


We Have Rules for a Reason

by regrettably



Category: JJCC (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-05-17 19:02:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 58,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5882020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regrettably/pseuds/regrettably
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The arrival of Zica and Yul brings about some changes in the JJCC dorm.  </p><p>Cross-posted at aff, started October 17 2015, completed January 5 2016.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. while australian accents can be hot, yours isn't (but the rest of you kinda is)

**Author's Note:**

> Just a really dumb little multichaptered JJCC fic in which Eddy might have feelings for Prince Mak, Prince Mak might have feelings about everything but Eddy, Sancheong and E.co have their own strange thing going on, Simba maybe likes to watch his other members a little too closely, and Zica and Yul are thrown into the middle of it all. Or, a fic that tries to explore why sleeping with your friends may/may not be a good idea.
> 
> Lots of questionable language and "adult situations" inbound, and fair warning, I haven't written a single word of this fic while fully sober nor do I intend to be fully sober for the rest of the writing process, so hopefully that gives you some indication as to the level of the writing you'll find within.
> 
> ***also warning for extremely half-assed adherence to canon because I was drunk af while writing and didn't think anyone would actually read this (oops) and I am still ashamed about this entire trainwreck of a fic to this day

Like any other dorm inhabited by idols or idols-in-the-making, the JJCC dorm has rules.

 

There are your generic rules that probably stand in any other dorm, of course.  You’ve got to be back before your curfew, fighting between members is strictly prohibited, you can’t all go out and party at the same time without informing a manager and even then you probably can’t all go out and party anyways, you can’t do drugs in the dorm, you can’t just break the furniture because you feel like it, those kinds of things.

 

Then there are the more JJCC specific rules.  It’s agreed upon that every member has to follow the chart that Simba meticulously put together when it comes to doing chores, and you’ve got to sign your name on the chart when you’re finished and have E.co check to make sure you did a good enough job (this was done mostly to shame Sancheong into actually doing work).  Everyone has to take turns walking the dogs, you have to cook when it’s your turn to cook, you don’t be a douche and leave your clothes in the washer for ten hours straight when everyone else needs to do laundry but nobody else wants to touch your underwear (Sancheong again).  Notably, you don’t let Prince Mak go anywhere on his own without Eddy knowing where he’s going to be at all times, because he will get lost and he will not know how to read the street signs or ask anybody where he is (this is a secret between the other four members to preserve some of Prince Mak’s dignity).

 

There are also the unspoken rules, the kinds of rules that everyone knows are rules but they’ve never talked about them because they’ve never needed to.  There are some pretty simple, common sense type ones: you don’t tie up the bathroom for inordinately long periods of time because all five members have to share the same tiny bathroom, if you get “bodily fluids” on (in) some clothing (socks) you make sure nobody else is going to touch said clothing before you do laundry. 

 

Then then there are the rules that aren’t spoken about because they’re dudes, and dudes don’t talk about their feelings, but if they did these are the rules they would have made anyways.  You try not to remind Prince Mak of his home or his family or of China, you don’t bring up Eddy’s height (“I’m not _that_ short, it’s not my fault that the rest of you assholes are so tall!”) unless you want him to be pissy for the rest of the day, and importantly, all secrets between the members _remain_ secrets between the members.

 

This becomes extremely important in the early days of JJCC, when E.co decides to drop a big ol’ secret on everyone. 

 

It happens at breakfast one day, everyone just tiredly assembling around the dorm’s kitchen table.  Eddy glances over E.co’s shoulder as he grabs his bowl of rice, and watches him liking posts on his Instagram for a second, noticing how E.co’s long fingers hover over a picture of himself smiling with some other model-type guy.

 

“Who’s that, your boyfriend?”  He jokes as he passes by, starting the morning off right by antagonizing the other members, as per usual.

 

E.co doesn’t even look up from his phone as Eddy sits down, kicking Prince Mak gently in the shin as he does so.  “Well, he used to be, but he’s not anymore.”

 

Eddy laughs, Sancheong continues shoving his mouth full of rice while his eyes are barely open, Prince Mak doesn’t understand what E.co said so he kicks Eddy back, but Simba stares at E.co with wide eyes.  Eddy stops laughing when he sees the serious stare-down that E.co and Simba are engaged in.

 

“Do you know what you just-” Simba starts, but E.co cuts him off.

 

“No, if we’re all going to live together, then everybody should know sooner rather than later.”  He says, staring at their leader intently.

 

“Know what?”  Sancheong mumbles with his mouth full of food, managing to crack an eye open.

 

“That I’m gay.”  E.co says simply.

 

Eddy drops his chopsticks, staring at the eldest and undeniably effeminate member in surprise while Simba carefully judges the reactions of the rest of the members.  Prince Mak still doesn’t understand what anyone’s saying, but he sees the face Eddy makes and looks between E.co and Eddy with confusion, and Sancheong just shrugs.

 

“That’s it?”  He says, shovelling more rice into his mouth, eyes closing again.  “I already knew that.”

 

“You what?”  Eddy asks with surprise, fishing his chopsticks off the table while Prince Mak pokes at his arm.

 

“Well yeah… you’re a male model, right?”  Sancheong murmurs, rice sticking to his lips.  

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  E.co asks incredulously, but an amused smile plays on his lips as he watches Sancheong struggle to stay awake.

 

“Well… I don’t know, aren’t like… most… of you gay?” 

 

E.co laughs, flipping his impeccable hair and clacking his carefully manicured nails against the table as he does so, and Eddy gets fed up with Prince Mak prodding at him.  “Damn, Henry, what do you want?”

 

“Sorry, but what’s happening?  I feel like I missed something important…”  Prince Mak’s voice is as quiet as it gets (which still isn’t very quiet), apologizing in Korean, asking his question in English.

 

Sancheong gets the gist of the question without really understanding English or being awake.  “Joonyoung… gay…”  He points at E.co with his chopsticks, his English thick and drawling. 

 

Prince Mak looks at E.co for just a second before reproducing Sancheong’s earlier shrug.  “Sure, okay, cool.”

 

Eddy looks at the other members, sees nobody expressing any concerns with this at all, and becomes the third person to shrug within the space of a minute. 

 

“Right, good, we’re all cool with that?”  Simba asks, watching all the members nod and nonchalantly eat their breakfasts like they haven’t all learned a huge secret about their oldest member, and he becomes he final person to shrug that morning. 

 

It’s cool, E.co’s cool, and in the short time they’ve known each other E.co’s never made any passes (subtle or otherwise) at any of the other members, so that’s as far as that conversation goes.  It also solidifies the unspoken secrets rule, nobody ever mentioning E.co’s sexuality outside of the dorm, E.co reciprocating by not mentioning the embarrassing fact that Sancheong has frequent nightmares that require him being held and sung to if you ever want him to go back to sleep or the fact that Simba cries when he watches children’s movies during any interviews. 

 

Most important of all the rules, however (at least to a dorm occupied by five extremely healthy, attractive, fit young men), are the following two:  1) You are not allowed to be in a relationship if you want to be a part of JJCC, and 2) You are most definitely not allowed to bring anybody back to the dorm (to partake in sex or otherwise). 

 

Now, when JJCC is first formed, nobody voices too many concerns about the relationship part.  Who wants to be in a restricting relationship when you’ve just become an idol and suddenly there are girls who are buying you food and presents and telling you how much they love you and saying “oppa, you’re so handsome” and flirting with you every chance they get? 

 

The not having guests over for sex part though, that raises a few issues. 

 

Not voiced issues, mind you.  Just… issues.

 

It’s okay at the very beginning; they’re all adults to some extent.  They can go without sex for a while.

 

Or at least they can try.  One might think that they could just go out and hook up, but they hardly ever get any nights out.  E.co gets the most, because he’s the oldest and therefore expected to be the most responsible, and he seems to take full advantage of them.  When he comes back in the early hours of the morning his makeup is smudged and his hair is mussed and he has a gratified smile on his face and he looks and smells like he’s just had sex.  Sancheong always seems moody when E.co gets back, but he never says anything, so it’s safe to presume that he’s just jealous of E.co’s apparently very satisfying sex life. 

 

Going out and hooking up would also require one to have people to hook up with (preferably people who will keep the fact that you hooked up with them private), which doesn’t appear to be a thing for the rest of the members.  Simba spends most of his nights out with his family, Sancheong with friends that he doesn’t have sex with, and that leaves Prince Mak and Eddy to spend their nights out with each other.

 

At first Eddy spends his rare nights out by himself, meeting up with the few friends that he has in Seoul, trying (unsuccessfully) to pick up girls, dancing and drinking and eating and partying and generally having the kind of good time that most guys in their twenties would love to have. 

 

But after Prince Mak has his first few nights out alone, it’s kind of decided that Eddy has to go with him.

 

“Damn, he’s lost again!”  Simba sighs one night, after yet another call from Prince Mak that’s undecipherable to anyone beyond Eddy.  “Eddy, come here!  Tell me what he’s saying!”

 

Every one of Prince Mak’s nights out ends the same way, with him lost in some district of Seoul that none of them recognize and the name of which Prince Mak can’t pronounce.  Whenever this happens, Eddy ends up sitting in the passenger seat of Simba’s car, listening to Prince Mak describe his surroundings and then translating his description into Korean for Simba, then the two of them make their best guess at where he could be, but this gets old really quickly.  The first time it happened they had told him to take the bus back, and Eddy had given him detailed instructions on how to get to the dorm.  Even with Eddy’s instructions, he had somehow ended up in Yangju, far outside the city, and Simba had been decidedly unimpressed as they had driven out of Seoul in their pyjamas to pick up their disoriented member. 

 

“Either we take away all his going out privileges, which, even though he is most definitely an idiot, still isn’t really fair… or you’re going to have to start going out with him.”  E.co states plainly as Eddy holds the phone up to his ear, nodding and scribbling down what possibly could be the neighborhood Prince Mak has found himself in on a sticky note. 

 

“I mean… you don’t have to if you don’t want to, Eddy.”  Simba says, but the way he stares at Eddy with pleading and tired eyes makes Eddy feel just a little bit guilty.  “But you’re the only who actually understands him… I know it’s asking a lot, but we’d all really appreciate it…”

 

Now, Eddy likes Prince Mak a lot.  He’s cool, he’s funny, they have tons of similar interests, they like to disagree about music and dancing and movies and anything and everything that friends and roommates can disagree about.  He’s a good friend that Eddy’s glad to have, and he doesn’t even really feel awkward about the fact that the room they share is so small that when they’re sleeping Eddy could probably reach out and touch Prince Mak lying in the bed next to his.  He doesn’t even really mind his ridiculous accent or his disaster of a laugh (he thinks they’re both kind of endearing, in a weird and dorky kind of way that he’d never actually admit to thinking).

 

It’s just that they spend all their time together.  Prince Mak doesn’t know any Korean when he joins JJCC, and none of the other members know any Chinese, and Eddy is the only other member that speaks fluent English.  Which means, naturally, that Eddy has to help him with everything.  He has to interpret and translate for him, has to teach him about life in Korea, has to make phone calls and help him book his doctor’s appointments (he’s always hurting himself or getting sick somehow) and communicate his needs to their managers, has to show him how to use all the public transport, has to order for him in restaurants, has to do his very best to comfort him when he feels homesick (and Eddy’s not very good with emotions so this is asking a lot of him), and that’s only the very beginning of the long list of things that he’s expected to do for his newfound friend. 

 

So, does he like him enough to drag him along with him during the extremely rare free time he’s allowed?  Apparently, because he finds himself nodding even while he’s scowling at Simba and E.co, who are sitting across the dorm’s kitchen table from him like they’re his parents or something.

 

“Sure, okay, fine… I can do that, I guess…”

 

And that’s how he ends up spending the majority of his nights out in the company of Prince Mak.

 

In the beginning, Eddy tries to just take him along to all the places he usually goes to with all the people he usually goes to those places with.  Prince Mak does not do well in clubs or at parties, usually hanging out awkwardly in the corner with his drink until Eddy has to convince him to come dance.  Prince Mak also doesn’t understand what any of Eddy’s friends are saying, and he just sits there awkwardly when they go out to eat together, even though Eddy tries to translate everything that’s being said for him.  Eddy doesn’t really get what his deal is; Prince Mak is usually loud and silly and never shy in public. 

 

If Prince Mak being generally awkward wasn’t bad enough, he’s got to be the worst wingman in all of Seoul.  You might think that two guys who are handsome enough to be models would make an attractive pair to any willing girls, even if one of the two didn’t speak any Korean.  If you thought that, you’d be wrong. 

 

Something about Prince Mak absolutely kills their chances of meeting anyone.  It might have something to do with the way Prince Mak basically has to cling to Eddy whenever they go to bar or a club or when they’re on crowded sidewalks, so they don’t get separated because he won’t be able to find his way back to the dorm if they do.  Or maybe the way he only talks to Eddy (because he’s the only person he can), and usually has to whisper into his ear to ever be heard because the places they go to are always so loud.  Or maybe the way he’s just a generally touchy-feely guy, never hesitating to hug Eddy or grab at his arms or shoulders or embarrassingly enough, his hands. 

 

Whatever it is, it gives the girls they try to chat up the wrong impression.  Which is unfortunate, because Eddy likes girls.  He _really_ likes girls.  And Prince Mak likes girls too.  He probably likes girls even more than Eddy does, even if he’s terrible at flirting and he can’t speak Korean and he’s strange and awkward and foreign.  Which is why, at first, Eddy doesn’t understand why they scare girls off.  And then one night they’re at a bar, one that’s loud and flashy and smoky, and Prince Mak is essentially hanging off his arm and doing a horrible job of not spilling beer on either of them, when a pair of cute girls with long hair and short dresses approach them.

 

“Oppas!”  They slur, dyed hair swaying and fake eyelashes fluttering. 

 

Eddy straightens up on his stool, trying to push Prince Mak and his grabby hands away from him, running an excited hand back through his hair.  He’s really hoping for a phone number, but at this point he’s so starved for female attention that even just a drunken compliment would sate his male pride somewhat.

 

Except Prince Mak’s still gripping his arm and sloshing his beer around while teasing Eddy about how desperate he is, voice hot and wet in his ear as the girls laugh.

 

“Oppas, we j-just wanted to let you know…”  The one with the shorter dress starts, nearly keeling over into her friend as she tries to step forward in heels much too high and thin.

 

“…that we think you two make _such_ a cute couple!”  The second one finishes, smiling and waving at them as she tugs her friend in the direction of two guys who are tall and handsome and most definitely aren’t hanging off each other.

 

“Ooh, what just happened?  What did they say?”  Prince Mak grins at him excitedly, teasingly, tugging at his shirt and watching how Eddy’s face turns an unfortunate shade of pink.

 

“Nothing.”  Eddy mumbles, pulling out cash, ready to pay for their snacks and their drinks and just leave before anything else on that level of mortifying can happen again.

 

“Nothing?”  Prince Mak asks, eyes wide and sparkly, smile big and questioning, stupid horrible laugh sounding stupid and horrible and still not altogether unappealing to Eddy.

 

“Nothing, shut up.  And stop grabbing me, pabo!”  He may as well help him with his Korean if he’s going to be insulting.  But he doesn’t try all that hard to push Prince Mak away from him as he tugs him out of the bar, down the street, and in the direction of the dorm.

 

Okay, so maybe they don’t get any action at all because people mistake them for a couple.  A gay couple.  That’s great, that’s fine.  As if it not having sex wasn’t bad enough.  Now he gives off the impression that he’s into guys too.

 

Which he most certainly isn’t.  Maybe.

 

He’d never even thought about the possibility of being into guys until he joined this stupid group.  It’s not that the idea is repellent to him, but before meeting E.co, he’d never met anyone who openly(ish) admitted that they’re into the same sex. 

 

E.co’s not even ashamed in the slightest about who he is when he’s around the other members, something Eddy at first thinks is strange, but quickly comes to admire.

 

He doesn’t even blink whenever anyone in the group brings it up. 

 

“So, what kind of guys are you into, hyung?”  Simba asks casually when they’re all sitting around and stretching after a long dance practice.

 

E.co peers up at Simba with a small smile playing on his lips while he’s bending at the waist and touching his toes with some difficulty (his legs are long and his feet are further away from his hands than anyone else’s).  It might just be Eddy’s imagination, but it seems as though Sancheong is suddenly intensely alert, more so than he ever is.

 

“Hot ones.”  E.co says simply, laughing as Simba rolls his eyes.

 

“Well, yeah, obviously!  But what’s hot to you?”  Simba tries again, voice inquisitive and friendly.  “I’m honestly curious.  I’ve never met a guy that was into guys before… at least not one that admits it.”

 

Eddy leans forward, more interested in the conversation than he’d probably like to admit.  Everyone seems pretty invested in E.co’s upcoming answer, even Prince Mak tries to look like he’s listening even though he doesn’t understand a word anybody’s saying. 

 

“Do you all really want to know?”  The oldest member grins with amusement when everyone nods encouragingly (even Prince Mak, although he’s just doing it to fit in).  “Okay, I like strong guys… with nice muscles.  They’ve got to be strong enough to pick me up...”  He winks at Simba as he says this, although with E.co’s long and unwieldly body this probably can’t be an easy feat for anyone, and Eddy feels his face start to heat up when he clues in to what E.co would even want to be picked up for. 

 

“…and I like guys with handsome, mature faces.”  Once again, Eddy might just be imagining it, but Sancheong’s face seems to fall, staring at the floor and looking particularly and unconvincingly uninterested when his roommate finishes his sentence.  “There, are you all happy now?”

 

Sancheong looks distinctly unhappy, but beyond him, everyone else seems satisfied, so the topic changes to their schedules for the next day and devolves quickly into an argument about whose turn it really is to clean the kitchen (probably Sancheong’s, but he’s not really paying attention). 

 

Eddy’s not really paying attention anymore either.  He’s too busy thinking about what exactly it is that he even likes about girls. 

 

And he keeps thinking about this over the course of the next couple of weeks.  He’s never really put in the time to think about what he actually finds attractive in the opposite sex.  To him a hot girl is just a hot girl.  But because of stupid E.co, he finds himself looking at girls judgementally, clinically; trying to figure out what exactly attracts him to them.

 

Skin.  He finds himself attracted to girls that show lots of skin.  That’s normal, though, right?  But guys show lots of skin too.  Especially the guys he lives with.  The other members walk around the dorm in all possible states of undress (beyond full on nude, that’s one of the unspoken dorm rules) at all possible times. 

 

It isn’t long before he starts looking at guys in the same way he looks at girls, with detached and scientific interest.  He discovers that he kind of finds the way Simba’s bare shoulders curve at the gym or the way E.co’s hips move when he walks or the way Sancheong’s slim waist looks in the early morning light at breakfast when he’s wearing nothing but his ratty old sweatpants that E.co hates to be just as attractive as he finds the curve of some girl’s breasts or the way her hair flows against her back or her tiny feet or whatever he’s supposed to find attractive about females.

 

Okay, maybe he’s into guys.  A tiny little bit.  Maybe.  In just a purely physical way, of course.  (Wait, does that make it better or worse?)  Anyways, it’s not like he’s gay or anything, right?  He’s just frustrated.  Super frustrated.  More sexually frustrated than he was when he was fourteen and a freshman in the States and there were all these super curvy hot Californian senior babes in his school that he could only drool over and hope to hide his awkward barely pubescent boners from.  He blames these only sort of alarming homosexual thoughts on being so sexually frustrated that even his bandmates are starting to look attractive to him.

 

Especially Prince Mak.  He wishes it was anyone but Prince Mak.  It’s his fault that Eddy feels so frustrated in the first place.  But at some point, somewhere between having beer spilt on him in the bar and the late nights in Simba’s car and all the times they’ve spent sleeping inches away from each other, Prince Mak starts to look pretty damn good to Eddy.

 

Maybe it’s something to do with how the fluorescent bar lights shine off his round cheekbones, or the subtle and strangely feminine way the back of his neck arcs when he stretches in the morning, or how annoyingly smooth and perfect his skin looks under the moonlight when his shirt rides up in his sleep. 

 

Whatever it is, it’s got Eddy in their five-way shared bathroom with a particularly troublesome hard-on. 

 

Troublesome because there is virtually no privacy in this goddamn dorm.  None of the rooms beyond the bathroom have locks on the doors (Sancheong and E.co’s room once did for some inexplicable reason, but Sancheong had kicked the door in during the very early days of JJCC when they had been arguing about cleaning their room and E.co had locked him out and now the lock doesn’t work), and he shares a room with the very guy that inadvertently caused this very erection by deciding to strip down to his boxers the second they got back from their dance practice.  The bathroom is the best bet for a moment’s privacy, and even then it’s hardly private, because you can’t have the door locked for more than a few minutes without someone whining at you. 

 

The one sort of saving grace is the shower, which remains as one of the few welcome places you can be alone for a few minutes in the otherwise crowded dorm.  Well, relatively alone.  It’s one of those unspoken rules:  You don’t lock the door if you’re having a shower, so somebody else can brush their teeth or do their hair or apply face cream or whatever guys have to do in the bathroom beyond the obvious.  Which could be kind of boner killing, thinking about Sancheong with a mouth full of toothpaste mere feet away from where you’re trying to jerk it as privately as is humanly possible here, but Eddy hasn’t had any time to himself in ages, so he’s willing to risk the possibility of someone using the bathroom while he’s having some merciful alone time in the shower. 

 

So he doesn’t lock the door as he strips and turns on the hot water, letting out an actual sigh of relief as his underwear hits the floor and his long-supressed erection is finally freed.

 

Which turns out to be a huge mistake, of course, because Prince Mak waltzes right into the bathroom without even bothering to knock during the fifteen seconds that he’s fully nude.

 

It would be cool if either of them said something, or did something, but instead they both opt for just staring at each other, Eddy’s face becoming increasingly red as Prince Mak’s mouth hangs partially open and his eyes slowly wander down his body.  Prince Mak doesn’t even bother to close the bathroom door behind him as his eyes come to rest on Eddy’s still embarrassingly hard cock.  As awkward silent seconds pass between them, Eddy kind of hopes his erection will deflate with time, but no, Prince Mak’s still walking around in just those stupid tight purple boxers and as much as Eddy tries not to look at the way they hug his annoyingly cute butt or how they cling to his sinewy thighs, he is definitely looking and his boner is holding strong because of it. 

 

And it’s not like Prince Mak is even trying to do anything to ameliorate the situation, he’s just standing there and staring at Eddy’s crotch, like the sight of an erect penis has caused him to die and undergo rapid onset rigor mortis on the spot or something.  Eddy’s pretty sure they might just stand there staring at each other for the rest of their hopefully short lives, until they hear Simba shouting something at Sancheong in the hallway and the sound of his voice causes them to both jump.

 

Eddy’s the first to make his mouth form words.  “Do you think you could, maybe, you know… leave?”

 

Prince Mak nods frantically, backing slowly out of the bathroom, eyes still glued to Eddy’s nether regions.  “Sure, yeah, okay… sorry!”  He mumbles as he retreats into the hallway and out of sight.  And then returns five seconds later, face red and eyes finally looking at the floor.  “Sorry, should probably close the door…”

 

When he’s finally gone, Eddy’s left feeling aroused and confused and a little bit guilty because he’s had the shower running for the entire length of that awkward encounter and Simba’s going to yell at him about using up all of their hot water later.  But he doesn’t even get time to reflect on how weird the whole situation really was or even have the time to actually get in the shower because E.co strolls in (also without knocking) not even a full minute after Prince Mak left.

 

Unlike Prince Mak, he takes one look at Eddy and doesn’t so much as blink, heading to the sink with his makeup case in hand. 

 

“Stop wasting all the hot water.”  Is all he says, pulling out a case of foundation and pinning his bangs back.

 

“Excuse me?”  Eddy’s still standing there in the nude, and he’s pretty sure his face has never been quite this red before.  “Can I get, like, just a minute of privacy here?”

 

E.co frowns at his reflection in the mirror, digging around in his makeup kit.  “No.  I’ve got a date tonight, I need to do my eyeliner, Hadon’s being bratty for no apparent reason and he keeps making me screw up my waterline, the only other mirror is in here, and as far as I can tell you’re just standing there wasting our water and waving your boner around.”

 

“And doesn’t that bother you at all?”  Eddy asks incredulously.

 

E.co shrugs, pulling at the corners of his eyes and applying kohl with practiced hands.  “No, should it?  It’s not like you’ve got something I haven’t seen many, many times before.”  Eddy makes a face and finally thinks to grab for a towel to cover himself with.  “And what’s the deal with that, anyways?  Is the bathroom just particularly arousing today?”

 

“Oh my god, no.  I’m just… you know what?  I’m going to shower now, and I’m going to pretend you’re not here.”  Eddy gives E.co one final scowl before dropping the towel and ducking behind the shower curtain.

 

“Good, please do.  Try not to get cum on the walls, won’t you?”  E.co just grins as Eddy sticks his arm out from behind the shower curtain to demonstrate a particularly rude hand gesture.

 

When Eddy finally steps out of the shower (he’d stayed in there extra long just to make sure he did use up the last of the hot water to spite E.co) he feels high-strung and grumpy and unsatisfied (he couldn’t even jerk off because E.co had kind of ruined the mood).  He slings a towel around his waist and leaves the room as quickly as he can before he can suffer any further awkward encounters with his bandmates that have no concept of personal space.  Except he doesn’t really expect to find Prince Mak lying on his bed in the stupid tight purple undies and nothing else when he enters their shared room.

 

In of itself, this wouldn’t be an irregular sight.  But he’s lying on Eddy’s bed instead of his own, which makes it both highly irregular and tragically dick-hardening.

 

He can already feel the towel shifting as his body acts of its own accord at the sight of a nearly nude Prince Mak sprawled out across his bed, and he turns to leave the room so as to avoid another awkward Prince Mak-related boner incident, but Mak’s stupid accent grates in his ears before he can make it fully through the door.

 

“Hey, where are you going?”  Prince Mak sits up on the bed, crossing his legs in front of him, smiling ever so innocently.

 

Eddy fumbles for words, torn between standing in the hallway and speaking from there (where Simba has annoyingly appeared and he doesn’t want a third member staring at his penis in one day) or standing in the room with the guy who’s causing this whole problem.  Damnit, maybe he can just put on some sweats and a baggy shirt really quickly and hope Prince doesn’t notice anything…

 

“Hey, are you okay?  Why are you just standing there?”  Prince Mak gets up off the bed and starts grabbing at his arms, pulling him into the room, ignoring any need for personal space that Eddy might have or the fact that he’s wet and wearing nothing but a precariously placed towel that’s threatening to fall off at any moment.

 

“Could you let me get dressed in peace for once?”  Eddy sighs, trying to keep the towel up and push Prince Mak away at the same time.  “I don’t need you looking at my...”

 

And that’s when Prince Mak looks down and notices the way the towel’s forming a tent-like structure at Eddy’s crotch region, and his eyebrows fly up, but once again, he doesn’t look away. 

 

“Are you… hard?”  Goddamnit, the way he says “hard” is absolutely ridiculous, voice rising at least an octave between the way he stretches the word into multiple syllables. 

 

“No, fuck no.”  He’s ready to take his chances with Simba in the hallway, but Prince Mak snags the towel around his waist before he can. 

 

“You are… oh my god, you are!”  Prince Mak exclaims as the towel around Eddy’s waist falls to the floor, exposing his very prominent erection to his roommate for the second time that day. 

 

Eddy’s not even sure what to do in this situation anymore, so he just stands there and stares at his idiot of a roommate, hands on his hips and hard-on bobbing against his stomach.  “Why would you grab the towel, bro?  And why can’t you stop staring at my dick?”

 

“It’s because of me, right?”  Prince Mak says, standing there in his underwear, voice suddenly soft and shy and very un-Prince Mak like.  “You’re hard because of me.”  
 

“No, of course not!”  It’s not a very convincing denial, considering the way his erection does not soften in the slightest as his scantily clad roommate stares him down. 

 

“You’re bad at lying; you do know that, right?  Your hands twitch and the back of your neck starts sweating, like it is right now.”  Prince Mak smiles, reaching down to pick up the towel.  “Look, mate, I’m flattered… but I’m not gay.”

 

“Neither am I, idiot!”

 

“Are you sure?  What’s all this then?”

 

Eddy tries to grab the towel out of Prince’s hand, but he flings it on the bed instead, out of Eddy’s reach.  “Why are you being such a douche?  And… it’s… it’s… a broner.”

 

“A broner?”

 

“Yes, a broner, okay?  You’re my bro… but you totally give me boners!  I think you’re kind of hot, alright?”  Eddy tries to mentally prepare himself for the imminent rejection and repulsion that he’s sure to face here, although it’s hard to get in any sort of state to do anything when the object of your affections is staring at your naked body.  This would be so much easier to deal with if his body could get itself under control and stop sending all of the blood that should be going to his brain straight to his dick.  “At least… my body does, obviously.  I haven’t had sex in ages, Henry!  I can’t even jerk off in this stupid dorm without somebody listening, and I’m frustrated, and you’re hot, and my body’s kind of confused… and just… look, I’m sorry, but if we could just like… pretend none of this ever happened?”

 

Eddy squeezes his eyes shut when he finishes talking, not wanting to see the look on Prince Mak’s face as he probably decides to punch his roommate in the face, but the place Prince Mak’s hand connects with is somewhere very different.

 

“Or… I could help you out?”  Prince Mak says softly, hand fisting loosely and tentatively around Eddy’s erect cock.

 

“W-what?”  Eddy barely manages to moan out as Prince Mak’s fingers flutter around the base of his erection.

 

“Look, I’m the same as you…”  Prince Mak’s voice is surprisingly low and hot in his ear, even if his accent is still among the least sexy things Eddy’s ever heard in his life.  “I haven’t been with anyone in such a long time…”  His grip tightens around Eddy’s cock, and Eddy can’t deny how good it feels just to have somebody, anybody pay him just the slightest bit of sexual attention.

 

“So let me help you… as your mate, of course.”  Prince Mak is saying, slowly starting to slide his hand up along Eddy’s length and Eddy has to bite his lips hard to not immediately buck up into his hand. 

 

It’s absolutely crazy, they’ve only known each other for a few months, and they’re both guys, and they’re friends, and they have to sleep next to each other in the same room for the rest of their careers here, but Eddy’s brain has officially switched off and he’s all too happy to agree to this.  At least, until Prince Mak pulls his hand away.

 

“Do me too.”  
 

The blood’s pounding in Eddy ears and it’s hard to hear, much less process Prince Mak’s stupid words.  “What?”

 

“Touch me too.  I just told you I haven’t been with anyone in ages.  I’m not gonna do this unless you’re gonna do it to me too.” 

 

Eddy finally cracks his eyes open, and notices the way the fabric of those ridiculous purple boxers stretches across Prince Mak’s crotch.  “Okay, but I’ve never, like… touched another guy’s dick before…”

 

“Jesus, neither have I… but we don’t have anyone else, do we?  And it’s just as awkward to jerk off separately but in the same room, right?”  He has a point.  “So either touch me, or I’m going to go finish this in the bathroom, by myself, with the door locked.”

 

Prince Mak ghosts his fingers along the side of Eddy’s now long-lasting and definitely aching erection teasingly, and even that feels so much better than his own hands do, and he doesn’t want him to stop doing that, so he finds himself nodding his head before he can even think about it.  “Sure, okay, fine… damn, you’re annoying even when you’re touching my dick, you know that?”

 

Prince Mak’s laugh is terrible, as usual, but Eddy quickly finds a good way to make him stop when he shoves his hand down the front of those tight purple undies.

 

Wow.  He thought this would be kind of weird, but the second he touches Prince Mak, he gets his world rocked.  The moan that rips from Prince Mak’s pretty throat is actually the sexiest thing he’s ever heard, and the way he squeezes his cock with his surprisingly soft hands is without a doubt the most arousing thing he’s ever felt. 

 

Damn, this feels so much better than any other handjob he’s ever gotten.  Something about how Mak’s hands are so much larger than a girl’s and how they cover so much more of his cock, or how the rhythm with which he flicks his wrist is so much more natural and right than it is when a girl does it, or the way he just seems to do whatever he thinks will feel good (up to and including running his thumb over the slit and fondling his balls) all while backing Eddy up against their bedroom door is just completely wrecking Eddy.  His thick thighs are shaking and his sculpted abdomen is tensing and his groin is tightening even though it feels like they’re just getting started.

 

But there is no way he’s coming before Prince Mak starts to look as destroyed as he feels.  He’s not really sure what he’s doing, so he just does it like he would to himself, fast and hard, fisting the base and pumping like he’s trying to get the best fucking bicep workout known to man.  It’s a little strange and maybe a bit awkward but he doesn’t have the time to think about that because he just knows he’s going to reach his own orgasm soon and he’s really not thinking about anything beyond how much he likes the sweat that starts to drip down Prince’s chest and the way his pubic hair scratches into his palm and the way his free hand grips a little bit painfully and a lot arousingly into Eddy’s shoulder as he presses his back into the creaky wood of the door.

 

And then Prince does this thing with his fingers, tugging down the foreskin hard and squeezing Eddy’s agonizingly hard cock with just the perfect amount of pressure and Eddy’s coming all over his own chest and Prince Mak’s hand. 

 

“Holy shit, Henry…”  He gasps as he spurts semen across his firm chest, arching his back against the flimsy wooden surface behind him.  

 

Eddy must do something right with his hand (which is practically moving of its own accord, he can’t be bothered to think about what he’s doing while he’s trying to ride out what is most certainly the craziest orgasm of his relatively young life) because Prince Mak suddenly curses quietly in at least three different languages (at least Eddy assumes he’s cursing, it's kind of coming out as an incomprehensible word vomit) and stains the front of those tight purple undies while violently thrusting his hips upwards.  Eddy keeps pumping until he feels Prince Mak go limp in his hand.  Then his knees buckle and his back slides down the door and Prince Mak falls with him, bare knees cracking off the vinyl floor beneath them.

 

They sit there for a while, breathing hard, faces flushed, and the tips of Eddy’s ears burn red hot with embarrassment when he feels his own slippery cum trickle down his pecs and Prince Mak’s slide between his fingers as he has the presence of mind to remove his hand from his friend’s underwear.

 

He’s not sure whether to be horrified or delighted.  He just got his friend (his closest friend really) off, and it felt _in-fucking-credible_.  His body seems to be settling for delighted but his mind is leaning towards horrified, but Prince Mak’s now normal and lilting voice quickly dispels his horror.

 

“Wow, I could definitely do that again sometime!”  He laughs, rolling onto his back, adjusting himself and his underwear with only the slightest tinge of pink across his cheeks indicating any possible embarrassment at their strange situation.

 

Eddy finds himself laughing along with his roommate as he tries to stand on legs that are gratefully satiated and unsteady to find his towel that Prince Mak had thrown away earlier.  “Are you sure?  I feel like there might be some rule about not jerking off your bandmates or something in our big list of rules…”

 

“Nah, just no relationships, remember?” 

 

“Well, even though it’s not an official rule, I feel like it’s probably heavily implied…”

 

Prince Mak grins sloppily more at the ceiling than at Eddy.  “But we’re just friends, right?  Just bros who need to blow off some steam… there’s nothing wrong with that…”  
 

“Yeah, just bros…”  Eddy nods along with him, trying not to feel aroused when he notices how hot his semen looks splattered along Prince Mak’s hand.

 

“And the other guys don’t need to know, right?”

 

“Right.”  Eddy agrees.

 

There’s a long and vaguely awkward silence, and then Prince Mak turns his head to look up at Eddy from the floor.  “So, I guess I’ll go shower now… do you want it again when I’m done?”

 

Eddy nods, feeling just a little bit gross and definitely ready for another hot and hopefully soothing shower, and they both pull on sweats quickly in case they run into other members in the hall, but E.co’s gone and Sancheong’s moping in his room and they can hear Simba watching something in the living room so the coast is clear and it seems like none of the other members overheard what they just did.  The best way to guarantee you’re next to shower here is to just wait in the bathroom while someone else is showering, but Eddy quickly regrets doing this when Prince Mak shatters his eardrums with the least manly screech he’s ever heard in his entire life as he steps under the showerhead.

 

“What the shit happened to all the hot water?”  He has to shout to get Eddy to hear him over the ringing in his ears.

 

“You did, you idiot!  You made me use it all up when you walked in and decided to stare at my dick for hours on end!”  Eddy yells back, although his grin is audible.

 

“It was only seconds, you weirdo!  You probably used it all up because you were busy thinking about me…”  His guffawing laughter rings off the bathroom walls, and Eddy decides it’s a good time to remove all the towels from the bathroom and hide them in Simba’s room.

 

Prince Mak decides a suitable punishment for this is a rough and quick handjob later that evening, and Eddy is certainly glad that there’s no rule about not engaging in sexual activities with the other members.

 

Although with the ways things start to go, he starts to understand why it might be heavily implied.

 


	2. true bros don't kiss (especially when they're having sex)

Eddy’s not entirely sure how they move from handjobs to blowjobs (brojobs?), but he’s not exactly complaining about it. 

 

He actually ends up giving the first one.  They haven’t fooled around in at least a week (which is a long time between handjobs for them) because the choreography for _Bing Bing Bing_ is so hard and they spend the majority of every day in the dance studio and it’s always dark by the time they get back to the dorm and nobody has any energy to do anything beyond sleep. 

 

But during one particular practice, their dance coach runs Prince Mak just a little too hard.  Prince Mak’s their best dancer, it’s his thing, he was even a dance instructor himself for a while.  He just must be having an off day, because he can’t seem to do anything right.  He gets berated over and over again, and even though he can’t understand a word their coach yells at him he keeps on smiling and trying, but everyone can see that he’s getting more upset and frustrated and tense with every misstep.  Simba tries to be the encouraging leader he’s supposed to be, tries to smile and hit him gently in the shoulder and convey that he’s just trying to be supportive, but it’s hard when they can’t understand each other.

 

He’s still obviously wound up when they all shuffle into the dorm that evening, weary and sore and ready for sleep.  He goes straight to his and Eddy’s shared room as soon as he passes through the front door without a word to anyone.  Simba and E.co exchange a worried glance, which they then direct towards Eddy while Sancheong tiredly struggles to kick off his shoes and nearly faceplants on the floor of the entryway.

 

“I’ll try to take care of it.”  He says before either of them can open their mouths to tell him to do exactly that.

 

He finds Prince Mak lying on his own bed and pressing a pillow over his head, arms taut as they pull at the fabric and hide his face.  This wouldn’t normally be a good situation; it’s hard to do anything in the same room as Prince Mak when the tension around him is as thick and palpable as it is now.  Usually Eddy would prod at him a bit and joke around to try to get him to lighten up, which sometimes works, or he’d get frustrated and just ignore him and try to sleep.  But since they’ve become roommates-that-also-give-each-other-handjobs-sometimes, this is the kind of situation that Eddy’s here for.

 

“Prince?  Prince?”  He tries first, flopping down on the bed beside Prince Mak and poking at his sides, looking for some sort of reaction.  When he doesn’t get one, he pokes a bit harder, digging his fingers into the spaces between Prince Mak’s ribs, but even that doesn’t get a rise out of his roommate.  “Henry?”

 

Still no reaction, so he moves to his last resort: jabbing his fingers into the skin right below Prince’s armpits and tickling him.  This gets a reaction, namely the pillow Prince Mak was pressing into his face swinging through the air and connecting with the side of Eddy’s head, nearly knocking him off the side of the bed.

 

“Woah, rude!”  Eddy exclaims as he fishes the pillow off the ground and whips it back at Prince Mak, hitting him square in the face.

 

“Me, rude?  You’re the one who won’t stop bothering me!”   Prince Mak tries hard to sound annoyed, but he can’t hold in a laugh as he flings the pillow back at his roommate, nailing him in the jaw.  Eddy smirks and after a few exchanges of the pillow they end up in a tug-of-war over it, Eddy pulled back down onto the bed and half-straddling Prince Mak.

 

“Are you sure you want to do this, bro?  Do you really think you can win here?”  Eddy grins as he lifts Prince Mak up along with the pillow.  Even though the “no fighting between members” rule is probably a rule in dorms everywhere, it’s especially important in the JJCC dorm.  The whole being trained by the Jackie Chan group thing means the members are just a little more hardcore than your average idol group (confirmed by an argument in their third week of being a group that had nearly ended with Simba being thrown through a wall), and Eddy is the last person any of the other members want to tangle with.  Even though they’re just roughhousing, Eddy’s got the obvious muscular advantage, and it’s pretty clear who’s going to win this one.

 

Or at least it would be, if Prince Mak didn’t let go of the pillow suddenly, causing Eddy to topple forwards and straddle his roommate fully, while he quickly snakes his hand under the waistband of Eddy’s jeans.  Eddy lets out an embarrassingly loud moan at the sudden hand-dick contact, and Prince Mak grins up at him as he hardens instantly under his roommate’s fingers.

 

“Who’s winning now, mate?”  He laughs as Eddy’s mouth falls open, but Eddy’s not one to lose without a fight.  In seconds he’s got Prince Mak’s sweatpants and underwear tugged down just enough and now they’re in a race, both fighting to be the one to make the other party come first. 

 

Prince Mak wins easily.  He takes out all his pent-up aggression and frustration on Eddy, jerking him so roughly and harshly, in a way that he’d never thought he’d like but actually likes more than anything he’s ever felt before, that it has him coming in his pants in what feels like mere seconds.

 

Eddy can barely hold himself up as he orgasms, slumping across his roommate’s body, face pressing into his shoulder.  Damn it, he hates losing, and he especially hates losing to Prince Mak.  He tries to push himself back up onto his elbows, because the way he’s laying on Prince is just a little bit too intimate for the both of them.  Prince Mak just laughs (that horrible, chortling laugh) at the way he struggles to sit up, and Eddy wants to wipe that smile off his face and make him hurry up and come. 

 

He’s taking a long time to orgasm, something to do with how he was wound too tight and full of pent up frustration to begin with, and Eddy wants him to feel just as boneless as he does right now, and to stop smirking at him just because he won their stupid little macho competition, and that’s when the idea crosses his mind.  _What if I blew him?_

 

Now, when Eddy tries to recall what happens next at a later time, the details are all a little hazy.  He’s not entirely sure on how he goes from having the errant and probably horrible thought of giving his good friend a blow job, to ending up with his thick lips wrapped around the tip of said friend’s cock, but that’s what happens.  Prince Mak stops laughing the second he feels Eddy’s mouth on him, eyes widening impossibly and he opens his mouth to try to say something that was probably intended to be along the lines of: “what the fuck, mate?”, but all that comes out is a strangled moan, any possible protests lost as Eddy sinks his hot mouth further down his erection.

 

At least, he tries to.  This is hard.  A lot harder than he thought it was going to be.  He probably should be thinking about how inherently embarrassing this situation should be or what a bad idea this is or how this is a lot more intimate than handjobs and he’s not entirely sure if they should be moving beyond just those, but instead he’s focused on just how difficult this is for him.  He can hardly take any in without wanting to gag, and it’s really goddamn hard to breathe, and his jaw already feels sore even though he’s just getting started, and he’s pretty sure his jerky rhythm and the way he’s choking and spluttering are pretty unappealing.  But Prince Mak seems to be enjoying it, gasping for air and clenching his fingers into the mattress, and the weird needy noises coming from his friend’s mouth are enough to keep Eddy going.

 

He’s just figured out how to coordinate breathing through his nose and bobbing his head as far down as he can, and is now focused on the bizarre question of what exactly to do with his tongue (it’s just kind of in the way, just dragging heavily along the shaft when he draws his head back… is he supposed to be licking at the same time he’s sucking?  And if so, how do you do that?) when Prince Mak reaches down and tugs at his hair urgently and babbles something incomprehensible at him. 

 

Eddy’s about five seconds away from popping his mouth off his friend’s hard-on and telling him to shut up so he can concentrate on what he’s doing when something hot shoots across his tongue and he realizes exactly what his roommate was trying to tell him.  He’s not exactly sure what to do as Prince Mak orgasms into his mouth, does he swallow (no, that’s way too gay) or does he spit (if so, where? Onto the blankets is gross and there’s nothing more suspicious than middle of the night laundry, and they don’t really have tissues or anything nearby)?  He takes too long to think about it and ends up letting his roommate’s cum slide down his throat while his mind is preoccupied, gagging slightly and grimacing at the taste/texture/overall experience. 

 

He sits up on his knees, thinking about how weirdly stretched his lips feel and how much he wants a glass of water, when he notices Prince Mak staring at him from he’s lying flat across the bed, chest heaving.  Eddy’s face automatically feels like it’s on fire as he’s hit with the sudden realization that he just gave a dude a blowjob, and out of all the dudes he knows it has to be this Australian dumbass of a roommate.

 

Prince Mak looks more surprised than embarrassed.  “Dude… you just… you swallowed.”

 

“Shut up, shut up, I know…”  Eddy frowns, running his tongue along the inside of his mouth and shuddering.  “I didn’t want to spit on the sheets, okay?”

 

Prince Mak shakes his head at him, eyes still blown wide and a little unfocused.  At least he looks completely relaxed, muscles and body and dick limp, no traces of his earlier frustration visible.  “Well, it was actually kind of hot… I just didn’t expect you to do it, that’s all…”

 

“Yeah, well, whatever...”  Eddy runs a hand through his hair awkwardly, realizing that he has to change his pants now as he notices that his skin is uncomfortably slimy in intimate areas. 

 

Prince Mak starts to clean himself up, tugging his sweats back up as Eddy digs around in a pile of laundry for semi-clean pyjama bottoms. 

 

“We should try that again sometime…”  Prince Mak says quietly from where he’s sitting on the edge of the bed.  “I mean, only if you want to, but that was actually pretty fucking awesome…”

 

Weirdly enough, Eddy feels a small smile form on his worn lips at the praise, despite the unpleasant funky taste in his mouth.  “In your dreams, dude.”  Prince Mak pouts ever so slightly at him, and Eddy cracks a grin.  “Okay, we’ll see.  Right now, I’m going to go brush my teeth for, like, the rest of my life.”

 

Prince Mak just chuckles as Eddy closes the door to their room behind him.  He finds both Sancheong and Simba in the bathroom, Sancheong standing over the sink and examining his face in the mirror with a small frown, Simba sitting on the edge of the tub and clipping his nails over the garbage can.

 

“Move over.”  Eddy gently pushes Sancheong to the side, ignoring his minor protests and the look Simba gives him when he grabs his toothbrush and proceeds to squeeze about half a tube of toothpaste onto the bristles.

 

Sancheong continues to stand beside him, turning his head and poking at his face and tugging at his skin, refusing to move away from the mirror and forcing Eddy to reach around him for the mouthwash, examining his face with such determination that Eddy finds himself having to ask exactly what he’s doing.

 

“Okay, what’s the deal, Hadon?”  He asks between gargling an excessive amount of mouthwash and adding more toothpaste to his toothbrush.

 

“How old do you think I look?”  Sancheong asks, scrutinizing his profile with unhappy eyes.

 

“I dunno, like, twelve?”  Eddy garbles with a mouthful of foam and toothbrush.

 

Sancheong makes a little hurt noise, but he doesn’t tear his eyes away from the mirror as Simba balls up a hand towel and chucks it at Eddy’s head.

 

“Hey, don’t be mean!  And what are you doing?  Stop using so much toothpaste!”  Simba frowns as Eddy ignores him and empties the tube.  “Don’t listen to that jerk, Hadon.  You look exactly your age.”

 

“Yeah, which is like, twelve, right?”  Eddy says as he spits into the sink.

 

Sancheong makes sure to smack Eddy in the side of the head before leaving the bathroom with dejection written all over his face.

 

Eddy shrugs as he watches him leave.  “What’s his problem?”

 

Simba's shoulders rise and fall, much as Eddy’s just did.  “What’s yours?  What on earth do you need to use that much mouthwash for?”

 

Eddy shakes his head as he reaches for the mouthwash again.  “Trust me; you don’t even want to know.”

 

 

 

 

Sancheong ends up being the one to catch them.

 

E.co and Simba are out shopping for groceries (according to the schedule, it’s their turn), inviting a couple of “Umma E.co and Appa Simba” jokes from the three remaining members as well as giving them a rare bit of downtime without the most responsible members around.  Sancheong’s in the living room, watching Running Man in his gross old sweatpants, and Eddy and Prince Mak are in their room, Eddy’s puffy lips stretched around Prince Mak’s erect cock.

 

He’s gotten a lot better at this with the amount of practice he puts in, but he feels like Prince Mak has greater innate blowjob talent.  He had gotten Eddy off just minutes earlier, and every time he does it, Eddy swears it has to be the best orgasm of his life.  Prince Mak’s so good with his mouth, he doesn’t gag or jerk like Eddy always does, he bobs his head smoothly, can take in large amounts, and isn’t afraid to swirl his tongue over the head or wrap his hand around the base and tug until Eddy’s coming into his mouth (they make sure they keep tissues in their room after the first time though).

 

But right now it’s Eddy on his knees, face buried in his roommate’s crotch as said roommate sits on the edge of the bed and digs a hand into Eddy’s hair.  And that’s how Sancheong finds them when he walks into their room (of course, not bothering to knock).

 

“Hey, guys, do you… oh…”  His naturally wide eyes widen a little bit more as he takes in the scene in front of him, and Eddy and Prince Mak both freeze. 

 

In retrospect, Eddy thinks he probably should have made at least some effort to make it seem like he didn’t have a fellow member’s dick in his mouth, but he kind of just kneels there and stares at Sancheong and hopes he gets struck down by some kind of divine wrath on the spot so he doesn’t have to suffer anymore fatally awkward member encounters of this kind.  Also, he thinks that they really need to either have locks on the doors or agree on some sort of rule about knocking, because he’s not sure he can handle much more sex-related humiliation.

 

“…yeah, I’ll just come back later.”  Sancheong says quietly, and when he stops staring he turns to leave and closes the door silently behind him.

 

“…shit.”  Prince Mak whispers as Eddy finally detaches his mouth from his friend’s erection, staring up at Prince Mak with wide eyes.  “Do you think he’s going to…?”  Prince Mak can’t even finish his question, but Eddy understands what he’s going for.

 

“I don’t know, should I go talk to him?”  Eddy wishes it hadn’t been their youngest member who had walked in on them; E.co would have howled with laughter and likely have given them advice on blowjob techniques while Simba probably would’ve just snickered awkwardly and teased them about it later, but he’s not really sure how their surprisingly calm (and then sometimes surprisingly not) maknae is going to act.

 

Prince Mak nods slowly at him, eyes distant and body stiff as he pulls up his pants bit by bit.  Eddy tries to make himself look like he hasn’t spent the better part of the last hour giving and receiving head, brushing his hair and straightening his clothes before going to find their likely traumatized member.

 

Or, you know, not traumatized at all, because Eddy finds him sitting on the couch, legs splayed wide across the cushions in his tatty sweatpants, one of E.co’s cats curled up on his lap, practically deepthroating a popsicle as he watches a drama on the TV.   The popsicle thing raises enough questions as it is (When did they get popsicles?  How come nobody has offered Eddy one?  Who the fuck eats a popsicle by shoving the entire phallic thing in their mouth in one go?) and is probably more than a little ironic in many senses given the scene Sancheong just witnessed, but Eddy pushes all those questions aside to try to figure out why their maknae isn’t busy washing his eyes out with bleach at this very moment.

 

“Uh… Hadon?”  Eddy asks as he carefully approaches Sancheong.

 

Sancheong just nods at him when he walks into the living room, eyes never leaving the television screen.  “Oh, hey.  What’s up?”

 

What a casual greeting.  Eddy wonders if Sancheong’s somehow repressed the memory of Eddy with Prince Mak’s cock in his mouth in the few minutes it’s been since he saw it.  Eddy sits down at the far end of the couch, leaving as much space between the two of them as is possible.  “Uh… I… are you doing okay?”

 

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”  Sancheong stares at Eddy curiously for a moment, sticking the entire length of the popsicle in his mouth at once, as if he has no idea why Eddy’s face is beet red.  Yeah, definitely repressed.  Eddy fails to make his mouth make sounds, and Sancheong pulls the whole popsicle out of his mouth and suddenly laughs as if a lightbulb has gone off in his head.  “Oh yeah, you and Henry… that was funny.”

 

And that’s all he has to say about it.  “Funny?”  Eddy asks in disbelief.  “You’re not… I don’t know… upset?”

 

Sancheong looks at him like he’s been asked the dumbest question in the world.  “No, why would I be?  I’m sure Joonyoung does stuff like that all the time, and he’s still my roommate…”

 

As if on cue, E.co walks in the front door of the dorm, tugging Simba along with him, bags of groceries in hand.  Sancheong turns to face E.co with a smile that’s perhaps a bit mushy and looks strangely out of place as Eddy pinches himself to make sure he’s not asleep and that Sancheong’s lack of concern isn’t all just in his mind.

 

“Joonyoung-hyung!”  Sancheong smiles up at E.co from the couch as he drops his bags of shopping on the kitchen counter before leaning over the back of the couch and clucking his tongue.

 

“Assi!”  He scoops the cat out of Sancheong’s lap, frowning at him.  “She’s going to be all smelly now because she sat on your gross sweatpants!  Seriously Hadon, can’t you get some new ones?  Ugh, you’re always such a mess.”

 

He walks away before Sancheong can even try to defend himself, joining Simba in the kitchen and taking his cat with him.  Eddy watches Sancheong curl in on himself as he tries to focus on the drama he was watching, but his eyes are distant and unfocused as he stares blankly at the television screen.

 

 

 

“What’s this?”  Eddy asks as E.co pushes a shopping bag into his hands while they’re washing dishes together one evening.  It’s not like E.co to just buy things for the other members at random.  It’s been a few weeks since the Sancheong-blowjob incident, and nobody’s brought it up, so Eddy assumes that he and Prince Mak are in the clear.

 

“A present.”  Eddy has a bad feeling as he watches E.co’s mouth stretch into a suspicious smile.

 

As he pulls a sizable bottle out of the bag, his suspicions that this isn’t just some random act of kindness are confirmed.

 

“Is this… lube?”  He asks, squinting to read the writing on the bottle as E.co pre-emptively scurries to the far end of the kitchen.  His face gets stuck into some kind of weird shocked scowl as he reads.  “What would I need this for?”  
 

“You tell me!”  E.co laughs and ducks behind the counter as Eddy gets ready to throw the bottle at him. 

 

Eddy stops mid-pitch as he loses sight of his target, and he realizes that Sancheong must have told his roommate about what he saw.  It’s not like Eddy had told him not to tell anyone, but he’d really hoped it had been pretty well hinted at.  “You dick!  First I’m going to kick your ass, and then I’m going to go punch Sancheong in the throat!”

 

“Hey, leave Hadon out of this!”  E.co pops out from behind the counter, hands on his hips and frowning at Eddy.  “He didn’t do anything... wait, did he catch you doing something?”  
 

The way Eddy blushes gives E.co his answer just as well as words would have.  “Ah, I see.  Well, he didn’t tell me anything.”

 

“Then why do you think I need this…?”

 

Eddy wants to wipe the knowing grin that forms on the eldest member’s face off with his fists, but he knows that the lanky man in front of him probably actually thinks that he’s being helpful, in his own weird way.  “It’s not my fault you moan so loud whenever you do whatever it is you do with Henry…”

 

“We don’t-” Eddy starts, but E.co just shakes his head at him.

 

“Please, you can’t lie to me about this kind of thing.  And you do realize how bad you are at lying, right?  Now, I can tell you haven’t actually fucked yet, but this is so you’ll be ready when you do…”

 

He doesn’t even want to think about how E.co could possibly tell that.  “Hey-”

 

“…and you might want to do some research and some _experimentation_ …”  Eddy shudders at the way E.co puts emphasis on the word, “…so you don’t hurt yourself, okay?  And make sure to use a _lot_ more than you think you need.”

 

“Fuck off.”  Eddy mutters, but E.co’s grin just gets annoyingly wider as he finishes drying the last of the dishes and turns to leave. 

 

“Condoms are in the drawer beside the sink in the bathroom, by the way.” 

 

As it turns out, they are.  There are _boxes_ of them (why do they need so many?), along with some other half used tubes of “personal lubricant” (why are they partially used?) and some hair elastics and eyeliner pencils and makeup remover wipes and a dog collar and some pink sparkly nail polish (who does this even belong to?) and other various assorted toiletries.  Eddy considers tossing the bottle E.co got for him in the drawer with the rest of them, but he figures he was at least kind enough to get him a fresh bottle and he ends up stuffing it under his mattress and hoping that Prince Mak never finds it.

 

He tries to ignore it for a while, telling himself that he’s perfectly content with just handjobs and blowjobs, but his curiosity gets the better of him in the end.  All it takes is some intensely rough oral sessions with Prince Mak and a couple of ill-advised internet searches and he somehow ends up in the shower with the bottle of lube and a vaguely fleshed-out idea of what exactly it is he’s supposed to be doing and some particularly dark thoughts directed towards E.co.

 

This does not feel good at all.  It just feels weird and difficult and fundamentally embarrassing even though he’s completely by himself in the bathroom for once and even if someone walked in they couldn’t see what he’s doing behind the shower curtain. 

 

Why do people even do this?  This is his third try at this, and he keeps trying out of some sort of self-loathing inquisitiveness and because he read somewhere on the internet that there’s supposed to be something that you touch that feels really good, but all he has is slippery fingers and a weird stretching feeling in his ass.

 

Damnit, he should’ve just become a stuntman or a chef or a gymnast or really anything other than a singer in a boy band, because he really doubts those routes would have led him to having his fingers shoved up his own ass in the middle of the night in a tiny cramped bathroom that he shares with four other idiots who somehow got him to this point. 

 

He’s on the verge of giving up again, because no matter how he pumps or spreads his fingers he doesn’t feel anything beyond his own insides squishing against his skin or the odd very slight sting of discomfort as he pushes himself a little further each time, and fuck E.co and his dumb lube and his dumb gay face and the dumb ideas that he plants in Eddy’s head and most definitely fuck Prince Mak and his stupid hot body and his stupid accent and his willingness to engage in sexual activities with his roommate, and if he ever thinks that he’s going to be fingering Eddy like this he’s going to get Eddy’s fist in his face because this is so stupid…

 

Then suddenly, it’s anything but stupid.  Eddy does one little last twist with his fingers and all of a sudden he’s gasping for air and looking for something to hold onto, pressing a hand against the wet tile of the shower wall and cursing low under his breath, because holy shit, whatever he just did felt _amazing._

 

He curls his fingers a few more times in that same way and before he knows it heat’s pooling in his groin way too quickly and he ends up coming on the tile wall (and now he has to clean the shower, great) with his vision blurring and a slew of creative curse words on his lips.

 

Now he understands why people do this.  That was intense. Way more intense than anything he’s ever felt before.  He would be embarrassed about how quickly he made himself come but that somehow felt even better than being sucked off by Prince Mak and he’d thought that was about as good as it gets.  

 

He sinks down to the floor of the tub, letting the hot water (everyone else is in bed, he can use as much hot water as he goddamn pleases) run over his satiated body, and he feels just a little bit worried.  What he just did was pretty gay.  But it’s not like it has to be, right?  Just because he liked doing it to himself doesn’t necessarily mean that he wants Prince Mak to finger him, and nobody else needs to know that he _really_ liked how that felt.

 

But just because the other members don’t need to know doesn’t mean they don’t find out.  In particular, the member he’d wanted least of all members to find out: Prince Mak. 

 

Eddy’s sitting around with Simba on the floor of the living room one evening, stretching and watching music videos at the same time, when Sancheong walks in the room.

 

“Ooh, what’s the occasion, Hadon?”  Simba asks, smiling up at him from the floor, and yanking on Eddy’s arm (which he’d been trying to help stretch out) painfully as he loses his concentration.

 

Eddy first takes the time to smack his leader in the back of head with the arm that doesn’t hurt before looking up at their maknae with surprised eyes.  Sancheong looks good.  Eddy’s pretty sure his schedule for the night is the same as his and Simba’s (which is nothing), but he definitely isn’t dressed like he has nowhere to go.  Normally he hangs around the dorm in sweatpants that haven’t seen the inside of a laundry machine in a disturbingly long amount of time and a stained old shirt and socks full of holes.  Right now he’s wearing some fitted pants that look brand new and a collared shirt that looks like it’s been freshly ironed (by someone that had never ironed a shirt in their life before, but still, the effort is there) and even his hair has been carefully styled and his face looks freshly shaved.

 

“Nothing, I just wanted to look nice…”  He murmurs, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

 

Simba nods approvingly, and even Eddy has to begrudgingly admit that he does.  “You actually look pretty sharp, kid.”

 

Sancheong kind of spoils the effect of his outfit by sticking his tongue out at Eddy, but he quickly stops as E.co flies into the room.

 

“Joonyoung-hyung!”  He smiles at his tall thin bandmate and smooths his shirt out, but E.co doesn’t even give him a second look as he grabs his keys from beside the front door and slides a tube of gloss over his ludicrous and prettily shaped lips, and Sancheong’s smile fades as E.co completely ignores him and his outfit. 

 

E.co’s hand is on the door handle when Sancheong tries again.  “Joonyoung-hyung, wait!” 

 

“Sorry Hadon, I’m in a rush, I’m going to be late for my date if I don’t leave right now!  If you’ve got something to tell me, talk to me when I get back.”  With that, he’s out the door and Sancheong’s left with his mouth hanging open and his arms hanging limply at his sides.

 

“Joonyoung…”  He whispers, more to himself than to either Eddy or Simba as he stares at the door with eyes that look strangely wet.

 

Simba stops massaging Eddy’s aching shoulders (they had been at dance rehearsals for half the day and the gym for the other half) and gets to his feet, reaching out for Sancheong, but Sancheong recoils from his touch and runs off down the hallway, slamming the door to his and E.co’s room behind him.

 

Simba frowns and nervously drums his fingers on his arms.  “I should probably do something about that, right?”

 

“You _are_ the leader.”  Eddy rolls his eyes at him, but Simba either doesn’t catch on to his sarcastic tone of voice or doesn’t care about it, and he nods to himself and walks away.

 

His departure leaves Eddy feeling tense and frustrated.  Simba hadn’t finished stretching him out, and now his back is weirdly tight and painfully knotted, and he has nobody left to take care of it.  E.co’s gone, he hears Simba softly talking to their maknae as he passes by Sancheong’s room, and Prince Mak is out at some sort of dinner thing with the PopAsia people and isn’t going to be back until much later. 

 

He ends up lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling with a scowl when he remembers the bottle of lube he has tucked under his mattress and thinks that he might have found a solution to his tension problems, especially since everyone else is otherwise occupied.

 

And that’s how Prince Mak finds him with his pants tugged down, his shirt rucked up, one hand between his thighs and one wrapped around his cock, two fingers pumping deep inside himself as his head is thrown back and sweat drips from his hairline.

 

Prince Mak doesn’t even say anything as he stands there in the doorway, a whole two hours before he was supposed to be back, mouth gaping and eyes wide.  At this point, Eddy doesn’t even really care anymore.  He’s suffered so much sexual embarrassment in the past couple of months and he’s on the edge of a fantastic orgasm and he could really give less of a shit at this moment if his stupid friend-with-some-sexual-benefits sees him fingering himself.

 

It does bother him that he’s just standing there with the door open though.  “Okay, you can either come in or you can piss off, I don’t really care.”  Eddy manages to gasp out, fingers stilling as he props himself up on his elbows to glare at his roommate.  “But do one or other, won’t you?”

 

His eyebrows rise when Prince Mak silently shuts the door to their room behind him, kneeling on Eddy’s bed beside him, eyes never leaving where Eddy’s hand is positioned between his thick thighs.

 

“What are you doing?”  Prince Mak asks hoarsely, and even though Eddy’s concentration and eyesight aren’t at their finest, he notices how dilated his friend’s pupils are.

 

Eddy’s groin is tightening and his stomach is twisting and he wants nothing more than to come, but he’s not so far gone that he can’t roll his eyes.  “I think it’s pretty fucking obvious.”

 

Prince Mak shrugs off his coat, letting it fall somewhere on the floor behind him.  “Does that… does that feel good?”  
 

“It feels _amazing_.”  Eddy lets out a breathy moan as he curls his fingers inside himself to emphasize his point.

 

There’s a long pause, nothing but the wet sound of Eddy moving his fingers in and out of himself and Prince Mak’s noticeably heavy breathing to be heard in their small room, and Eddy could and probably should be extremely self-conscious and a little bit weirded out about the fact that his roommate is just sitting there and watching him finger himself, but he’s so close and his vision is blurry and he feels hot and tight and the tension in his back would finally snap if he could just come and he just can’t bring himself to care about anything beyond the licks of pleasure shooting up through his back and down his arms and everywhere throughout his body.  He’s just about there when that ridiculous accent reaches his ears.

 

“Can I do that?”

 

“What?”

 

Prince Mak tugs gently on the arm that’s reaching back behind Eddy’s legs.  “Can I do that?  To you?”

 

If it were any other time, if Eddy wasn’t standing on the edge of sexual satisfaction, he would’ve given his roommate a bloody nose.  But right now, he really needs to come, and it doesn’t seem like Prince Mak’s going anywhere.

 

“Sure, fine.  But hurry up.”  He eases his fingers out of himself with a hiss, and passes his friend E.co’s lube with the hand that was previously wrapped around his now painfully hard erection.  Prince Mak just stares at the bottle blankly.  “It goes on your fingers, dumbass.”

 

It takes Prince Mak a few seconds to clue in, but he eventually squirts a little bit of the cool liquid onto his shaking fingers.

 

“More than that, damnit.”  Prince Mak looks startled, but he does what Eddy tells him.  When Eddy’s satisfied with Prince Mak’s fingers, he pulls Prince Mak forward so he’s sitting between his legs and tugs his wrist down between his thighs.  “Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up…”

 

“But how do I…?”  Prince Mak asks, eyes doubtful and fingers hesitant as they prod gently at skin Eddy never thought he’d allow any friend of his to ever touch.

 

“Shit, it’s really not that hard to figure out!  Just stick them in!”  He nearly kicks Prince Mak when he does just that.  In his near-orgasmic haze he’s forgotten that Prince Mak is kind of an idiot.  He probably should have mentioned the words “gently” and “slowly” somewhere in his instructions.  Instead he just plunges two fingers fully into his friend in one quick go as Eddy writhes on the sheets, biting his lips to hold in every insult he can think of.

 

“You dicknose…”  He mutters through gritted teeth as he clenches around Prince Mak’s fingers, trying to get them to rub up against where he wants them to.

 

“Am I doing something wrong?”  Prince Mak asks as he tries to mimic Eddy’s earlier movements with his hand.  He’s trying, but his fingers feel clumsy and foreign and they aren’t doing what Eddy needs them to, and Eddy ends up grabbing his roommate’s wrist and manhandling his fingers into position.

 

“There.  Rub there, and fast, because I’m going to punch you in the teeth if I don’t get to come soon.”  Prince Mak laughs quietly, but he presses hard up against where Eddy tells him to, and soon enough Eddy’s throwing his head back and his thick thighs are shaking and he falls back against the bed, covering his face with an arm as he reaches down to jerk himself in time with the thrusts of Prince Mak’s fingers.

 

“Shit, fuck, Henry…”  He gasps out as Prince Mak slides a third finger in, and the added stretch has Eddy arching against the mattress and biting into his own arm to stifle what surely would have been an embarrassingly loud moan as he shoots cum onto his own stomach.

 

He has to wait for his vision and hearing to return to realize that Prince Mak is still sitting on the bed between his legs, watching him with a curious smile.

 

“What?”  Eddy murmurs, feeling incredibly self-conscious as he regains his senses and feels Prince Mak slide his hand out of him with a slick popping noise.

 

There’s a soft blush across his roommate’s face, and it looks like the tips of his ears might be turning pink, but he also notices how his jeans strain across his crotch and how his face shines with sweat.  “Could you… do you think… would you do that to me?”

 

“Uh…”

 

“I mean, you don’t have to!  I just… it looked like it felt really good, and I’m super horny, and I did just do it to you…”

 

If it weren’t for their loosely defined friends-with-benefits thing, Eddy tries to convince himself that there’s no way he’d be pushing Prince Mak down into the bed and unbuttoning his jeans otherwise.  Prince Mak is all too eager to help Eddy removes his pants and boxers (purple again), but his bravado wavers when Eddy tries to ease his thighs apart.

 

“This… this won’t make things weird between us, will it?” 

 

He would ask this now, of all times.  “No?  I just want to make you come, not make you my boyfriend...”  
 

Prince Mak seems convinced by this and he spreads his legs for Eddy.  “Okay, then do it.”

 

Eddy takes his time, following E.co’s advice (the more lube the better) and trying to make it as comfortable as he can for his friend, but Prince Mak just grimaces as he prods about and his face is grim even when he gets him worked open enough for two fingers.

 

“What exactly is the point to this?  I don’t feel anything, mate…”  Prince Mak squirms around on his fingers and reachesdown to stroke himself in order to try to get some sort of pleasure out of the experience.

 

“Shut up, I’m not exactly an expert at this…”  Eddy mutters at him, but right as he speaks Prince Mak’s mouth drops open and some sort choked moan leaves his mouth at the way Eddy crooks his fingers.

 

“Oh god, that, do that again…”

 

Eddy’s only too happy to oblige, and he tries to ignore the weird feeling of pride bubbling in his chest as he wraps his free hand around the one on Prince Mak’s erection and watches his good friend lose it.

 

“That _was_ amazing…”  Prince Mak whispers at him as they clean themselves up, and Eddy briefly wonders why his face grows warm at his praise, or why he feels pleased when he makes his friend feel good, or why he can’t help but watch Prince Mak’s face as he falls asleep on the mattress opposite his.  But it’s nothing, it’s got to be nothing.  They’re just friends, just friends that finger each other now apparently, and they’re never going to be anything but friends.

 

 

 

 

It’s Sancheong who’s the first to admit that he has problems with just being friends with one of the other members.

 

They’ve spent all day running around between various variety show appearances, and now Eddy and Simba are spending their evening sitting around the dorm’s kitchen table and trying to help Prince Mak with his Korean.

 

“Read it again.”  Simba smiles at Prince Mak encouragingly as he points to a phrase in a beginner Korean textbook one of their managers had bought for him.  Simba speaks slowly and kindly and smiles gently while Prince Mak struggles.  Eddy does none of this.

 

“That sounded like shit.  I don’t think you said a single actual word.”  He says, and Prince Mak kicks him under the table.

 

“I’m trying…”  He whines, and he pouts cutely at Simba, looking for help, but Eddy can’t help but notice how weary his eyes look.

 

Sancheong is sitting with them, but he hasn’t been listening to anything any of the members have been saying, instead clenching his hands together in his lap and absentmindedly petting the cats and dogs that wander by and checking the time on his phone every few seconds.  He’s dressed nicely again, and he has been every day for the past few weeks, even when the rest of the members are wearing sweatpants or pyjamas. 

 

“Hey, it’ll be fine…”  Eddy overhears Simba say softly to Sancheong and notices him squeeze the maknae’s thigh gently under the table.

 

Sancheong just frowns doubtfully, scratching Assi under the chin as she jumps up into his lap and staring off into the distance with those wide, wide eyes.  

 

Then E.co strides in, eyes perfectly defined with dark kohl, lips shiny and plump, outfit dark and sleek and tight.  Sancheong rises to his feet nervously and Simba nods reassuringly and Eddy stops criticizing Prince Mak’s terrible reading skills for a second. 

 

E.co seems a bit surprised that everyone’s stopped what they were doing to stare at him, but he takes out his phone and frowns and starts pulling on some shoes from the doorway.

 

“It’s your night out again?”  Eddy asks, more than a little jealous.  He’d much rather be out eating and drinking (with or without Prince Mak) than stuck here trying to drill the alphabet into Prince Mak’s thick skull.

 

E.co nods, a distracted smile on his face as he looks at something on his phone.  “Yeah, I’ve got another date…” 

 

Eddy nods, and Prince Mak looks up from his book with confused eyes, and Simba elbows Sancheong in the ribs.  “Just ask him…”  He whispers, nudging at Sancheong and smiling.

 

“Just ask me what?”  E.co looks up from his phone, somehow having heard Simba’s low-pitched voice even from where he’s standing near the door, looking for a coat.

 

Sancheong doesn’t move, so Simba sighs and places two hands on his back and pushes him forward.

 

“Hadon?”  E.co looks him once over, taking in his outfit and his carefully styled hair. 

 

Sancheong stutters, but he gains confidence when he feels Simba rest a supportive hand on his back.  “D-do… do you have to go out with another different guy tonight?”

 

E.co chuckles slightly, pulling on his coat (it’s nice and black and hangs off him fashionably and perfectly).  “I don’t _have_ to, no…”

 

Simba sighs and rolls his eyes, squeezing at Sancheong’s shoulder.  “Ask him better.”

 

E.co stops moving now, staring at Sancheong and Simba, expression blank, waiting.

 

Sancheong looks like he wants to run out of the room, but he takes a deep breath and sets his jaw and looks E.co dead in the eyes.  “Would you… would you like to go out with me, instead?”

 

E.co raises one finely manicured eyebrow at him, and looks him up and down, bringing a hand to his mouth and chewing on a nail.  The room is dead silent, Eddy watching the scene unfold with wide eyes, Simba and Sancheong holding their collective breath, and Prince Mak seems to understand that something important is happening so he just watches quietly from the table.  Sancheong starts to shake silently, confidence wavering under E.co’s scrutiny, and he looks like he might pass out at any time, but he sucks in a deep breath when E.co suddenly flips his hair and laughs.

 

“Okay, sure.”

 

Simba actually has to stop Sancheong from collapsing.  “What, really?”  Sancheong wheezes, trying to keep his cool while his heart obviously thumps wildly in his chest.  “Are you sure you understand what I’m asking?”

 

E.co clucks his tongue and rolls his eyes, and he walks right up to Sancheong, puts a hand on his jaw, leans in, and kisses him right there in front of everyone.  “I’m pretty sure, yeah.”  He says as he pulls away, laughing as Sancheong’s knees buckle.  “Come on, get your shoes, I want to go dancing, and I want you to come with me.”

 

Sancheong scrambles to get some shoes as E.co turns to look at Simba and grins.  “I know it’s not his night out, but you’ll cover for us, right?” 

 

Simba nods, grinning back at the eldest member, and then E.co’s got an arm thrown around the maknae’s shoulder and the two of them are leaving and Eddy’s sitting there in stunned silence and Prince Mak just looks really confused.

 

“…all you had to do was ask…”  Those are the only words Eddy catches from E.co as he watches the oldest member smile into Sancheong’s ear as the door closes behind them.

 

“Okay, I’m just throwing this out there, but I feel like they must be breaking a few rules …” Eddy stares at Simba, who just shrugs.

 

“I let them break the going out rule, they aren’t bringing anybody back here, and I personally feel like the relationship rule is only a problem if the person you’re in a relationship with isn’t a member.  That rule really only exists so we don’t cause scandals and have outside distractions, right?”  Simba smiles as he rejoins Eddy and Prince Mak at the table.

 

“You think that won’t cause a scandal?”  Eddy asks incredulously, but Simba leans forward in his chair and smiles, looking at Prince Mak’s textbook.

 

“Not if we keep what happens between members only between members.  Besides, Joonyoung’s careful, he’ll make sure they don’t get caught.”  He points at a line in the book, ignoring Eddy’s frown.  “Can you read this for us now?” 

 

“Wait, is someone going to tell me what happened?  Are they a thing now?”  Prince Mak asks, directing his question at the only person who can understand him.

 

It’s not like Eddy knows if they’re even actually a thing, or if this is just a one-off date. “Read the stupid thing first, and if you read it right, maybe I’ll tell you.” 

 

When the pair of them finally come back (way past their curfew but there’s nobody who really has any power over E.co), it’s clear that if it was a one-time thing, it went really well.  E.co stands tall and kisses down into Sancheong’s mouth the second the door to the dorm is closed behind them, not caring that the other members are all still sitting at the kitchen table and watching them.  Sancheong smiles into E.co’s mouth like this is the happiest day of his life (it probably is), and Eddy can’t help but feel the slightest twinge of jealousy in his chest.  It’s not like he wants to be in either of their places (Sancheong’s a child basically and E.co has way too many diva-like tendencies for him), but he’s never really had anybody smile like that at him, and the way Sancheong’s lips curve so happily even as E.co captures his mouth and tugs at his hair actually looks kind of appealing.

 

And it becomes clear pretty quickly that they plan on becoming a long-time thing from the way they kiss in the kitchen when it’s their turn to cook or hold hands when they watch movies in the living room or the way Eddy catches Sancheong with his hand down E.co’s pants as he presses him up against the kitchen counter.

 

They get along so well and they look so happy and Eddy’s reminded that he’s never actually had much of a real relationship in his life.  Sure, there were girls he went out with, sometimes even for a few months at a time, but he’s never felt the kind of happiness it looks like Sancheong feels when E.co smiles at him or E.co feels when Sancheong pins him up against the wall (Eddy wonders if they should have some sort of rule about not feeling your bandmates up in common areas).

 

Of course, they fight too.  Mostly they squabble, because they always did before, but one day there’s a huge screamer of a fight.  It’s reminiscent of the time Sancheong decided to break their room door down, and Simba stands outside their room biting his nails anxiously and Eddy stands with him in case things get violent and Prince Mak doesn’t understand what they’re yelling at each other about but he does understand that it’s serious.

 

They’re just fighting about cleaning their room, like they always are, but this time E.co’s _angry_ and Sancheong’s just as fired up and they’re hurling insults at each other and it’s pretty awful.  It sounds like Sancheong’s throwing clothes at E.co and E.co’s throwing something more solid at Sancheong and Eddy’s about ready to step in when there’s the sound of the mattress creaking like someone’s been flung onto it and then there’s nothing but silence. 

 

“Shit, should we…?”  Eddy looks at Simba, who’s pressing his ear to the door with wide eyes.

 

“No, wait a second…”

 

Eddy feels his ears heat up as the noises that come from Sancheong and E.co’s room sound like they’re doing anything but fighting, Prince Mak shifts uncomfortably on his feet, and Simba smiles with delight.

 

“Aw, that’s nice…”  He says, ear still pressed firmly to the door as Eddy cringes and grabs their leader’s wrist.

 

“Come on you pervert, let’s give them some privacy.”  Eddy has to drag both Simba and Prince Mak back to the relative quietness of the living room (E.co is _loud_ and his voice carries throughout the dorm anyways) and after quite some time the noises die down and E.co wobbles out to the living room and flops down on the couch between Simba and Eddy.

 

“Is Hadon okay?”  Simba asks, laughing as E.co rests his head in his lap and grins mushily at nobody in particular. 

 

“He’s cleaning up the room right now.”  He says, voice thick and satisfied, and Eddy can’t help but imagine what Prince Mak would look like in his place, with his lips swollen and his hair mussed as he lies across Eddy’s lap instead of Simba’s.

 

 

 

 

“Are you sure you want to order by yourself?”

 

Eddy’s sitting in a quiet restaurant with Prince Mak.  It’s their night out, and he’d let Prince Mak choose where they want to go for once.  Normally Eddy likes places that are loud and crowded and full of young drunk people, but it’s admittedly kind of nice to just sit quietly with his friend.

 

“My Korean isn’t that bad, I can do it!”  Prince Mak makes a disgruntled face at Eddy, who laughs and shakes his head as he listens to what he orders.  Eddy orders a few bottles of soju, because Prince Mak’s going to need it with what he ordered.

 

They’re both half a bottle in when their food comes, and Eddy can’t help but smile at his friend as he tells him stories of his life in Australia and laughs that damning laugh and his pretty lips curve into a permanent smile that he directs at Eddy.  At least until he takes a bite of his food and nearly spits it back out.

 

“Oh my god, hot…”  He wheezes, eyes automatically watering as he reaches for his drink.

 

“Idiot, I told you I should order for you.”  Eddy pours him another drink as he watches Prince Mak sweat.  “Here, you’ll need this…”

 

They challenge each other to eat as much of Prince Mak’s ridiculously spicy dish as they can and Eddy matches Prince Mak drink for drink and by the time they leave they’re both pleasantly drunk and Eddy has to put a hand behind Prince Mak’s back to guide him in the direction of the dorm. 

 

They don’t really expect to find the other members awake when they walk through the front door, and they most definitely don’t expect to find Sancheong plowing E.co on the couch while Simba sleeps in the sole armchair they have (“it’s my chair, I’m the leader”) just a few feet away from them.

 

“Really?  On the couch?  People sit there sometimes, you know?”  Eddy might be a little drunk, but he’s definitely not drunk enough for the sight of E.co lying on his back with his legs wrapped around Sancheong’s waist.

 

“It… gets boring… doing it in the same place… all the time…”  E.co pants out between Sancheong’s thrusts, smiling and letting his eyes roll back into his head without a hint of shame.

 

Prince Mak’s just staring at his bandmates copulating and Eddy feels like he should at least try to cover his eyes or something.  “And Youngjin’s right there!  Don’t you care?”  
 

Sancheong speaks up, not stilling the movements of his hips as he does.  “No, he likes to watch.  He’ll be happy when he wakes up.”  
 

Eddy grimaces and starts pushing Prince Mak in the direction of their room.  “Ew...”

 

After Prince Mak’s stumbled over one of their dogs and the door to the bedroom is shut firmly behind them Eddy starts peeling off his jacket and his jeans that are strangely constricting.  “I am never sitting on that couch ever again…”  He says as he turns to face his roommate, who’s staring at him with a look Eddy’s never seen before.  “What?”

 

The next thing he knows he’s on his back on the bed, and Prince Mak’s on top of him and he’s straddling his waist and grinding down against him with an intensity that Eddy’s never felt from him before.  He considers pushing him off, because what the fuck, they don’t do this, but maybe he’s a bit too drunk or something, because Prince Mak’s weight on him and the way he’s pressing their crotches together feels way too good.

 

And then Prince Mak’s leaning over him and whispering in his ear and something about his tone of voice has Eddy shuddering and gasping.  “Do you want to try what they were doing?”

 

Now Eddy knows he must be drunker than he thinks he is, because Prince is asking him if he wants to have sex with him, and instead of breaking his nose he’s nodding and helping him shimmy his underwear down his legs. 

 

This is such a bad, bad, bad idea, but Prince Mak’s already lubed up his fingers and he’s gotten so good at this too and he’s got Eddy twisting around on the mattress in what feels like seconds with the insistent way he presses and spreads his fingers inside him.

 

“Shit, shit, stop… I think I’m ready now…”  Eddy manages to gasp out as Prince Mak twists his fingers in a devastating way that has him bucking up off the mattress.  He actually has no idea if he’s ready or not, neither of them have done this before and he doesn’t really know at what point you’re deemed as “ready” but he knows he’s going to come soon if Prince Mak doesn’t pull his fingers out of him.

 

Prince Mak starts pulling his own pants down and he reaches for the lube again and even though Eddy’s head is swimming from the alcohol and his body’s on fire and Prince Mak’s staring at him with eyes dark with lust, he still finds it within him to smack his roommate in the side of the head.  “What are you doing?  Condoms are in the bathroom, idiot.”

 

“Jesus, right, okay…”  Eddy tries not to think about how much he misses the warmth of Prince Mak on top of him or in him as his roommate slides off the bed.  Goddamnit, they should not be doing this, this is passing so many boundaries and it’s just such a horrible idea, but Eddy can’t think about anything beyond how much he wants to feel Prince Mak inside him again.

 

When Prince Mak gets back, he finally sheds his pants and boxers (turquoise this time) and crawls eagerly between Eddy’s thick thighs.  At least he knows how to put on a condom correctly, even while drunk.

 

“Are you sure you want to do this?”  Prince Mak’s voice is quiet and only slightly slurred in Eddy’s ears as he positions himself over Eddy’s body, hands on either side of his head as Eddy parts his thighs wider instinctively.

 

“Yes, god, hurry up…”  A sudden flicker of anxiety twists around in Eddy’s stomach, but he’s just buzzed and horny enough to ignore it, and he pulls on Prince Mak’s arms with need as he feels the head of his friend’s cock brush against his entrance. 

 

Prince Mak pushes in slowly, gently, and Eddy grits his teeth together so hard his jaw aches because _holy fuck_ , this was an awful idea.  He’s been fingered and stretched lots of times by both Prince Mak and himself before, and it never felt anything like this.  This hurts.  It stretches him open impossibly and it burns and he wants to push Prince Mak off and out of him because he’s pretty sure he’s going to cry in pain and he refuses to cry in front of this dumbass, but at the same time he refuses to back out of this now, refuses to admit that this hurts him, refuses to suffer any injury to his dumb male pride and admit to Prince Mak that he’s in pain.

 

He’s not really sure what to do, he’s just focusing on breathing and on trying not to let the tears that are forming in his eyes spill as Prince Mak just keeps pressing into him.  He tries so hard to relax but it’s not working and he feels ridiculously tense and tight and he’s seconds away from panicking when Prince Mak does the unexpected and leans down and kisses him.

 

Eddy’s first thought is:  _Fuck off, you dumb fuck, don’t you dare kiss me_ , but he can’t open his mouth to say it because Prince Mak’s lips are pressed against his own.  They can’t do this, they shouldn’t do this, friends don’t kiss.  Kissing is for people that like each other, and they don’t like each other, they just fuck each other, but Eddy forgets about this as Prince Mak’s hot mouth slides against his. 

 

Actually, he forgets about everything beyond Prince Mak’s mouth as he lets him press him down into the bed and kiss him absolutely senseless.  This isn’t kissing, this can’t be kissing.  Eddy’s been kissed before, and it never felt anything like this.  This isn’t a timid first kiss, nor is it a sloppy drunk kiss, nor is it a kiss without feeling or emotion.  It’s a kiss that makes Eddy lose his ability to think about anything else, he’s no longer thinking about the way he’s forced open so excruciatingly or the pain shooting up his back, all he’s thinking about is how nice Prince Mak’s lips feel on his own and how strangely wanted he feels and how he never wants Prince Mak to stop.

 

And Prince Mak doesn’t stop.  He grabs Eddy’s hands as he kisses him and links their fingers together and brings them up beside his head and pushes them into the mattress and it’s weird and intimate and loving but Eddy still doesn’t want him stop and is so thankful when he doesn’t.  Prince Mak keeps kissing him even when Eddy's calmed down enough for him to start thrusting shallowly, and even though it stings all he can feel is Prince Mak and his stupid lips.

 

 _Henry, Henry, Henry_ … His mind is swimming with Prince Mak and before he knows it Prince Mak’s thrusts have sped up enough to feel good and he burns everywhere but it’s a good burn and it still doesn’t feel as hot as Prince Mak’s lips do against his own.  Eventually they’re really going at it and Eddy’s hooked his legs together behind his roommate’s back and he’s moaning into his mouth and everything feels so good and so hot and Prince Mak’s throbbing inside him and he can feel sweat dripping down his face and he loves the way Prince Mak’s hair is stuck to his forehead and he thinks if there’s any way he’d like to die, it’d be like this, with Prince Mak burning inside him and against him. 

 

Prince keeps their lips firmly pressed together when he thrusts hard up against that perfect spot in Eddy and Eddy’s overwhelmed and he jerks and ruts against his friend’s stomach and covers both of their abdomens with hot cum.  Prince Mak doesn’t take too long to follow, pounding inside him frantically as their tongues slide together and Eddy squeezes his eyes closed and relishes his orgasm and just how goddamn good it feels to be thrust into while he spasms.  Then Prince Mak’s hips stutter and he groans into Eddy’s lips and comes hard, slumping over Eddy and squeezing his fingers with all the strength he has left. 

 

Eddy kisses the side of his face absentmindedly, his vision’s full of black spots and he hasn’t been able to form a coherent thought or word beyond “Henry” in minutes.  He whines softly when Prince Mak pulls out and rolls off the bed to dispose of the condom, and Eddy struggles to sit up and catch him by the wrist when he comes back.

 

“Sleep here…”  He murmurs, head spinning and body heavy, and all he wants right now is the warmth of his roommate’s body beside him.  Prince Mak looks unsure, but Eddy tugs him down into the bed and pulls the blankets up around him before he has any time to protest. 

 

It feels so good to have Prince Mak wrapped around him, he smells like alcohol and sweat and his skin is sticky with Eddy’s cum but Eddy doesn’t care at all.  He just likes how his head nestles into his shoulder and how his arm feels tucked around his waist and how he snores softly in his ear almost immediately after laying down.  Eddy kisses his forehead messily and falls asleep feeling happy and unbelievably content and with thoughts of how amazing and soft Prince Mak’s lips feel on his own.

 

When he wakes up in the morning, he doesn’t feel any of those things.  He feels cold and clammy and his head hurts and his ass stings and he wonders why he’s naked from the waist down (but he still has his socks on?) and he’s not entirely sure what exactly he has dried all over his stomach.  He reaches up and touches his lips, and they feel strange and puffy, and images of Prince Mak hovering over him and pressing him down fill his head, and he’s not sure whether he wants to laugh or cry or vomit.

 

He rolls over, because his body seems to want to be opting for the latter, and he notices that Prince Mak isn’t even in their room at all.  He hauls himself to his feet and pulls on the nearest pair of sweats (they're not even his) with great exertion, and goddamn, it really hurts to stand, and he somehow manages to make it to the bathroom before sinking to his knees in front of the toilet. 

 

He doesn’t even notice Sancheong standing there brushing his teeth (or trying to) as he pukes.

 

“Bro.”  Sancheong raises his eyebrows at him, and helps him to his feet when he’s done, eyes widening when Eddy winces and curses as he tries to stand.  “You okay?”

 

“Yeah, absolutely perfect.”  Eddy says through gritted teeth, looking at his reflection in the bathroom mirror and trying to fix his hair so it doesn’t look like he was just fucked.  “Have you seen Henry?”

 

Sancheong nods, and Eddy tries to ignore how he’s staring at him.  “Kitchen.”

 

The walk to the kitchen takes Eddy way longer than it should have, and he kind of wishes he hadn’t made the effort when he sees the expression on Prince Mak’s face.  He looks traumatized, and he stares at Eddy with such remorse that it makes Eddy feel kind of offended.

 

Eddy tries to find some way to sit at the kitchen table that doesn’t hurt too much, and he gives Prince Mak a strange look when he manages to get somewhat comfortable.  “Dude, is everything alright?”

 

Prince Mak stares at him in silence for a long time, before speaking in a small and serious voice that is completely out of character for him.  “I’m… I’m sorry… We went way too far last night…”

 

Eddy doesn’t have anything to say, he just feels shitty and his stomach’s churning and he’s not sure that it’s entirely from the alcohol, so Prince Mak just keeps talking.  “I shouldn’t have… I should never have kissed you, I’m sorry…”  
 

That’s what he’s upset about?  “It was just kissing, bro…”

 

Prince Mak looks almost relieved.  “Really?  So you don’t think that I like you or anything, right?  And you don’t like me at all either?”

 

“Right.”  Eddy says with a conviction that he, for some reason, doesn’t really feel. 

 

“So we’re just friends still?  It’s not weird because we had sex?”

 

Eddy tries to ignore the strange way his chest aches at Prince Mak’s words.  “Nah, we’re fine.  We’re just friends.”

 

Prince Mak smiles at him for the first time since he sat down, and their conversation ends as Simba enters the kitchen.

 

“Why are you sitting like that?”  He asks, raising an eyebrow at Eddy, who just flips him off as a response.

 

Just like that, they become full-blown friends-that-have-sex, and Eddy tries to tell himself that there’s no confusing feelings stirring in his chest or that he’s not vaguely jealous whenever he sees Sancheong and E.co touching and smiling or that he doesn’t miss the way Prince Mak’s lips feel against his own and he tries to ignore how painfully his heart seems to beat in his chest when Prince Mak refuses to sleep in the same bed with him after they fuck.

 

The whole dorm settles into a strange routine of weird casual (and not-so-casual) relationships.  Simba knows that Eddy and Prince Mak sleep together (Eddy’s not sure if he heard them together or if E.co told him) and he doesn’t care, and E.co and Sancheong are annoying and affectionate whenever they’re together, and Eddy’s pretty sure that Simba has some weird arrangement with them that he doesn’t want to think about too much. 

 

But everyone beyond Eddy seems content with the peculiar situation in their dorm, and Eddy keeps trying to convince himself that there’s no reason for him to feel upset, so he just tries to enjoy how Prince Mak feels around him or how Prince Mak feels inside him and he puts extra work into rehearsing and working out so he doesn’t have time to think about any possible feelings he could be having (because he’s Eddy Oh, and Eddy Oh doesn’t do feelings).

 

Then Zica and Yul show up and life in the dorm becomes even weirder than it already is.

 

 


	3. fried chicken is not a romantic meal (but if you eat it under moonlight it could be)

When the original five members of JJCC are told that they’re going to be getting two new additions, the idea is first met with some grumbles of discontent.  They have nothing against the new members themselves (they haven’t even met them yet), but just the idea that they need two more people in their group comes off as slightly offensive and worrying.  Are they not good enough as they are?  Are these new people going to take their places?

 

But they get over that pretty quickly.  They’re all kind of adults and they realize that none of them have any say in the matter, so they resolve to just make the new members feel welcome and to get along with them as best as they can.

 

The real concern is the fact that everyone in the dorm is sleeping with each other in one way or another.

 

They decide to call a group meeting to discuss the matter where they always have group meetings: at the kitchen table during breakfast.

 

“So… what are we going to do?”  Simba asks, digging out the thick notebook that they keep all their rules written down in from behind a framed picture of Jackie Chan that they have sitting on a shelf in the living room (yes, they have a framed picture of Jackie Chan in their dorm, no, that’s not weird).  “There’s no guaranteeing that the new guys are going to be okay with our… living arrangements.”

 

“I’m guessing they won’t be…”  Sancheong says quietly, grasping at E.co’s hand under the table. 

 

Of course they won’t be.  The chances that the original members were fine with E.co being gay in the first place were astronomically low to begin with.  The chances of two other young Korean males being okay with not only having a gay group member, but having two of the members in a relationship together and two of them in a friends-with-benefits arrangement and a leader who does _something_ (Eddy’s still not really sure what exactly Simba does with Sancheong and E.co but he definitely does do _something_ with them) with two of the members are so low they may as well be nonexistent.

 

“Yeah, probably not.”  E.co sighs.  “It was nice being able to have a sort of normal relationship while it lasted.”

 

“I’m not saying that you and Hadon have to break up or anything…” Simba says gently, but it doesn’t do anything to lift the spirits of either the eldest or youngest members.

 

“We weren’t planning on it.”  E.co’s voice is firm and weary at the same time.  “I’m just so sick of always having to hide… I like it here because I can be myself!  I know it’s selfish, but I don’t want to go back to pretending to being something I’m not all the time.”

 

“The new guys might be cool, we just need to get some time to know them, right?”  Sancheong tries to smile at his boyfriend, but it looks painfully unconvincing. 

 

Simba tries to lighten the sour mood hanging over the group, putting on his best encouraging leader face.  “Exactly!  We won’t know until we meet them.  Until then, let’s just try to keep everything that happens here on the down-low, okay?”  He nods in the direction of Eddy and Prince Mak.  “That goes for you two also.”

 

Eddy just scowls at him, and Prince Mak just stares blankly at the leader, not able to understand his words and too tired to interpret them if he could.  Eddy feels like everything that he does with Prince Mak is confined to their room, but the amount of knowledge the other members have of their sexual activities together is both disturbingly large and accurate.

 

Simba grins annoyingly at him as he cracks open the notebook, flipping to the first empty page he finds.  The notebook had originally just contained the list of rules they were given by the company, but they’d added to it over the months whenever they need a rule to help everyone get along better.  It hadn’t really seen much use since they’d all started sleeping with each other.

 

“Okay, new rule time!”  Simba uncaps a pen, cracking his knuckles.  “First of all, I think we can all agree on no sex in common areas, at least for the time being?”

 

Sancheong raises his hand and Simba nods at him.  “Does the shower count as a common area?”

 

“You have sex in the shower?”  Eddy stares at their maknae in disbelief.

 

E.co snorts.  “We all know you jerk it in the shower, what’s the difference?”

 

“Doesn’t everyone here jerk it in the shower?”  Sancheong asks, looking at Simba pointedly.

 

Simba doesn’t notice Sancheong’s gaze because he’s hung up on the shower sex question, scratching at his chin thoughtfully, unfortunately while holding the pen and smearing ink all over his face which nobody opts to tell him about.  “Nah, I don’t think so… Like, there’s not normally more than one person in the shower at a time, so it’s not really a common area, right?” 

 

“Do you even know what a common area is?”  E.co laughs, smiling for the first time since they started their breakfast meeting, but he doesn’t protest at all as Simba scratches down “shower doesn’t count” besides the “no sex in public areas” rule in the notebook.

 

“Speaking of…”  Simba says slowly as he mouths out the words he’s writing.  “…we should probably take the lube that’s under the couch cushions and put it someplace else… oh yeah, and the lube in the kitchen too…”

 

The clearly guilty parties (E.co and Sancheong) laugh while Eddy nearly spits up the juice he’s trying to drink.  “You have sex in the _kitchen_?”

 

E.co and Sancheong try to look innocent, but they aren’t fooling anyone as they play footsie under the table and E.co’s hand is sneaking perilously high up Sancheong’s thigh. 

 

“What.  The.  Fuck.”  Eddy glares at them both, half horrified and half furious.  “That is so gross!  I cook there!” 

 

E.co shrugs and Sancheong’s distracted by something E.co does with his hand under the table.  “Look, just because you and Henry only have boring vanilla sex all the time doesn’t mean that the rest of us-”

 

“No… sex… in… the… kitchen…”  Simba says as he scribbles in their notebook, and Eddy groans.

 

He feels like he should probably do something to stop their leader from writing down things that are probably pretty incriminating in their group rule book, but he’s kind of distracted by the way Prince Mak isn’t even bothering to look like he’s paying attention to the conversation, even though E.co clearly just said his name.  He never really understands what the other members are talking about, he always tries to act like he’s part of group discussions, but instead he’s just sitting there and cradling his head in his hands.

 

“Can we have a better rule about doing laundry?  And about the bathroom too?”  E.co asks.  “It’s already hard enough to do either here as it is, I can’t imagine it’s going to be any easier with seven people living here instead of five.”

 

“Good point.”  Simba nods and they collectively (sans Prince Mak) figure out a laundry schedule and put the leaving the door unlocked rule into writing.  “Eddy, any suggestions?”

 

“Knocking.  We really need a rule about knocking.”  Simba holds the idea to a vote and it passes with five to zero, although Prince Mak barely raises his hand and he just follows what everyone else is doing when he does.

 

“Henry?  Do you have anything you want to add?”  Simba speaks slowly and clearly, and Prince Mak looks up at the sound of his name, but his expression is vacant.

 

“He’s asking if you have any rules you want to add to the list.”  Eddy tells him, but Prince Mak just shakes his head and leans on his elbows again, holding his head.  “Hey, are you doing okay?”

 

Prince Mak nods weakly.  “Yeah… my ear just really stings again.  It’s giving me a headache…”  He’s had this stupid ear infection for about half of the time Eddy’s known him, and it looks like they’re going to be making yet another trip to a doctor again soon.

 

“Well, if that’s everything then…”  Simba closes the rule book, and they set about getting things ready for the arrival of the new members (and Eddy has to tell a manager that Prince Mak needs to see a doctor, again). 

 

Everyone tries to act as unconcerned as they can while they clean and shift furniture around.  The new members are going to be squeezed into the room they’d been using as an office/storage room/pet area, and they can barely fit two mattresses in the room, much less figure out what to do with the stuff they had in there before.  The only good thing Eddy can see about getting new members is that management gifts them with another couch (Eddy has been staunchly sitting on the floor in the living room since he found out firsthand that E.co and Sancheong have sex on their old one).

 

It’s hard to actually be upset when they meet the new members for the first time.

 

They meet at the studio.  The original members are sitting around in a tiny meeting room and then a staff member ushers the two of them in.  They stand huddled close together, one tall and thin with a ridiculously sharp face, the other round-faced and somewhat cherubic looking, and they give off the impression that they’re both pretty nervous and they both want to look like they’re anything but nervous.

 

Then the one with the round face pushes the skinny one forward gently and he bows low in front of the old members.  “I’m Chanyul.”  He says, voice soft, thin lips pulled into an anxious smile.  “It’s so nice to meet you all.”

 

The other one steps forward and bows politely as well, and his voice makes the other members jump.  “And I’m Daehwan.”  He says, voice pitched so low it reverberates in everyone’s chest and rattles in their bones.  “We’re so honored to be able to work with you.”

 

The original members introduce themselves, and everyone smiles politely and enthusiastically, even Eddy (who’s been warned to at least _try_ to act nice).  It seems like everything’s going to be okay, nobody acts too weird or says anything too awkward.  There is a strange moment when E.co introduces himself.  There’s an unusually intense moment of eye contact between him and Zica and a heavy and inexplicable atmosphere comes and passes in the blink of an eye.  It’s almost like E.co knows something the others don’t just by looking at the new member, but he never brings it up and the other members think they must have just imagined it.

 

And just like that they’re all thrown together.  They’re informed of the new members’ stage names (they’re Yul and Zica now) and they move straight into working on their new mini-album, going right from meeting each other to their first vocal practice together. 

 

Things are slightly awkward at first; nobody really knows what to say to each other beyond trying to make inevitably stunted small talk.  But the situation gets better when they help the new members move their stuff into the dorm later that evening.  The sleeve on Zica’s shirt rides up his arm a little when he’s carrying a box full of his belongings (the two of them have a depressingly small amount of things between them, just a few bags of clothing and a box of miscellaneous objects apiece) and E.co spots something dark snaking up his wrist.

 

“Is that… a tattoo?”  He asks, eyes widening as Zica nods and the rest of the members whip their heads around to stare at the innocent looking new addition to their group.  “Show me.” 

 

That’s how Zica ends up being coerced into taking his shirt off while the other members all crowd around him, all boundaries lost as they touch the ink snaking up his wrists and across his breast and the weird moon on his back (which Simba recognizes as being from _Soul Eater_ and automatically decides that he loves Zica forever) and Zica laughs deep and low and Yul sighs like this is something that happens to them all the time.

 

And they get along from that moment forward.  Things might still be a little bit awkward, and it’ll probably take some time for the new members to acclimatize to the weirdness of the original ones.  Simba reads out the rules to the new members (leaving out the most incriminating sex-related ones) and introduces them to the ever-rotating cycle of animals that live in their dorm and shows them the chore schedule and the tiny new room that they now have to share, and Zica and Yul don’t complain about anything and it seems like things are going to work out.  They work hard and they’re sweet and talented (too talented, in Eddy’s opinion, Zica being a “power vocalist” is no joke and he might fear a little bit for his title of lead vocalist) and they fit in well and don’t look too uncomfortable with the usual hectic and sarcastic and competitive lifestyle in the dorm.  Zica loves to tease and he becomes close with Simba immediately and he sometimes speaks for Yul, who is quiet and soft-spoken but he smiles and laughs a lot, and things work and everyone seems happy.

 

Except Eddy.  Eddy is not happy. 

 

 

 

 

 

He isn’t happy when he sees the new cooking schedule for the dorm. 

 

“What the hell?  Why am I scheduled to cook literally every meal from now…”  He asks Simba as he flips through the schedule stuck to their fridge.  “…until forever?”

 

Simba pouts at him as Eddy squints to read the list of chores to see if maybe he’s making a mistake.  But no, it’s his name next to literally every meal every day.  “How is this even fair?”

 

“Come on, Eddy… you know you’re the only one that can actually cook here!  We want to show Daehwan and Chanyul that it’s not all that bad here!  We can’t do that when Joonyoung burns everything he touches and Prince always cuts himself and nobody likes food with bits of his fingers in it and Hadon can’t follow a recipe, and I just like your cooking the best!”  Simba points to the rest of the chore list.  “Look, I even took you off cleaning the bathroom duty!”

 

“Do you even have any idea how much food seven people eat?  I made practically all of the meals when it was just five of us!  Seven is too many!  That’s a fuckton of work!”

 

Eddy sighs as Simba literally gets on his knees and clasps his hands together.  “Please?  Please?  Look, I’m even begging you!  Please cook our meals?  Please, near-Master Chef Eddy?”

 

Eddy rolls his eyes and hauls Simba to his feet.  “Fine.  But somebody has to help me do meal prep every day then.  And I want to be taken off vacuuming duty too then.”

 

Simba’s toothy grin is as annoying as it gets.  “Deal.”

 

 

 

 

He’s strangely not all that happy when he has sex with Prince Mak either.

 

Well, that’s not entirely true. 

 

He’s extremely happy during the actual process itself.  Prince always feels so good, no matter what they’re doing or how they’re doing it.  Although the how never changes much (rough and fast) and the what changes with their schedules and the amount of time they have reasonably alone.  Though they go for full-blown sex as often as they can get away with.

 

Like right now, as Prince Mak bounces in Eddy’s lap, head thrown back and sweat shining on his neck as he rolls his hips down onto his roommate’s erection.  He’s got one of his hands covering his mouth (they’ve all agreed to keep their activities quiet, much to Simba’s creepy displeasure) and the other is reaching behind him and gripping almost painfully tightly around one of Eddy’s thighs, clenching the thick muscle hard every time he drops down onto Eddy’s cock.

 

“Shit, Henry…”  Eddy whispers as Prince Mak rises high onto his knees and then lets himself fall in one smooth slide.

 

During moments like this, Eddy is happy.  And so is Prince Mak.  Prince has been looking worse for wear lately.  He’s always been a generally accident-prone and sickly person (he’s allergic to everything, he catches colds easily, he’s always spitting up phlegm and making Eddy throw kleenex at him in the middle of the night), and now he looks constantly exhausted on top of everything else.  It’s not that the other members don’t look tired all the time, but Prince looks like a walking zombie.  You can find him in the bathroom every morning trying to cover up the permanent bags under his eyes, and he doesn’t laugh as much as he used to and his smiles seem kind of forced.  But like this, sweating on Eddy’s bed, he definitely doesn’t act like he’s tired and the sloppy smile that peeks out from behind his hand doesn’t look forced at all.

 

And that makes Eddy happy.  Probably too happy.  There’s nothing in his vision but his roommate, his friend, and all he can think about is how goddamn good he looks with sweat dampening his shirt and his shiny eyes curving into blissful  crescents and his legs shaking as he impales himself on Eddy again and again.  He loves that Prince Mak is trembling and dripping sweat because of him, he loves how hot and tight and beautiful he looks and feels, and the only thing he would want to change in this situation would be the fact that Prince Mak refuses to kiss him. 

 

Every single time they do this he finds himself dangerously craving Prince Mak’s lips again, which is why they generally end up in positions with their faces as far away from each other’s as they possibly can be while they’re still intimately connected.  Eddy doesn’t want to be tempted by Prince Mak’s stupid pretty lips.  He doesn’t understand why he is, all he knows is that he is and it sucks major balls. 

 

And he wishes they could touch more.  He knows it’s crossing a line, but he wants to feel the sinew of Prince’s legs tangled around his, he wants to run his hands under the hem of Prince’s sweaty shirt and feel the smooth skin of his shoulders under his hands, he wants to feel Prince’s hands stroking his thighs and running down his chest and gripping his hips and he knows he shouldn’t want any of that but he worryingly and disturbingly does.

 

“Oh god, Eddy, Eddy, Eddy…”

 

Then Prince Mak’s groaning into his hand and Eddy’s heart flutters strangely as Prince clenches hard around him and shoots cum onto his shirt, and just the stupid face he makes as he orgasms pushes Eddy over the edge.  He’s so happy watching Prince Mak come undone because of him that he forgets that this doesn’t mean anything at all and is then rudely reminded when Prince calmly cleans himself up and goes to eat the leftover pizza that Simba brought back from a schedule and leaves Eddy feeling vaguely queasy  and gross and confused. 

 

 

 

 

He’s also not happy that neither Sancheong nor E.co can seem to keep it in their pants.

 

They’re going to get them all caught.  So far Zica and Yul don’t really seem to suspect anything, but it’s only a matter of time.  E.co blatantly eyefucks Sancheong whenever he does the splits in the gym (which is practically every day), and Sancheong can’t keep his eyes off his boyfriend’s thin body whenever they’re in a dance rehearsal.

 

E.co and Sancheong liked having sex everywhere and anywhere in the dorm (much to Eddy’s horror) and it’s obvious that being confined to their room in the middle of the night and having to do what they do quietly is causing quite a bit of strain, strain that culminates in the form of another full-fledged fight over laundry.

 

The other members are sitting around relatively quietly one evening, Simba showing Zica and Yul clips of their old _Bing Bing Bing_ performances (and neither of them look too enthused about the difficult choreography) while Eddy’s smacking Prince Mak in the head because he keeps eating all the food that they’re prepping for tomorrow, when they hear muffled shouts coming from E.co and Sancheong’s room.

 

“…and if you ever picked up your fucking clothes…!”

 

“…if you weren’t such a fucking diva…!”  
 

This was such a regular occurrence before that the other original members are totally prepared to ignore the fight that’s brewing, knowing that this how they blow off steam and it always just ends in angry sex anyways, but Zica and Yul look terrified as the sounds of solid objects flying around and colliding with walls and probably bodies reach the living room.

 

“Are they going to be okay?”  Yul asks quietly, expression a mixture of confused and concerned as Simba laughs while something smashes against a wall down the hallway.

 

“Yeah, they do this all the time.  No need to worry…”  Simba’s about to hit play on the next video when the yelling and crashing suddenly halts and the three original members stop what they’re doing (Eddy’s wresting cooking utensils out of Prince Mak’s clumsy hands and considering banishing him from the kitchen) and share a moment of panicked eye contact.  “… actually Eddy, can you come with me for a second?”

 

Eddy nods and pushes Prince Mak in the direction of Zica and Yul.  “Keep them busy, okay?”  He whispers urgently in Prince Mak’s ear.

 

“Doing what exactly?  I can’t really talk to them…”  Prince Mak whispers back, digging his heels into the floor as Eddy tries to maneuver him in their direction.

 

“I don’t know, sing at them or something, just distract them for a while!  Don’t let them leave the room!”

 

Prince Mak is left smiling awkwardly at the new members as Eddy and Simba lean against the door to E.co and Sancheong’s room.

 

“We’ve got to stop them before they actually bang.  Joonyoung’s way too loud, he’ll give us away…”  Eddy hisses.

 

“Well, I don’t hear anything at all…” Simba’s got his ear pressed up against the door again, brow furrowed in concentration.  “Maybe they’ve actually gone and killed each other this time?”

 

“That would at least solve some of our problems…”  
 

“Should I knock?  I’m going to knock.”  Simba raps his knuckles loudly against the flimsy door.  “Guys?  You busy?”  
 

There’s no answer and they still don’t hear any noise coming from the room at all, so Simba tries again.  “You guys alive?”

 

Still nothing.  “Should we go in?”  Eddy shrugs so Simba turns the handle and pushes the door open slowly.  “Joonyoung?  Hadon?  We’re coming in… oh, okay, I see.”  
 

Eddy only gets a brief glimpse into the room, but he’s one hundred percent certain that the scene will unfortunately be burned into his retinas in painful clarity for the rest of his life.  At least he understands now why they didn’t answer.  Mostly because their mouths are full of each other.  E.co’s got his forehead pressed into the mattress and is practically drooling around the fingers Sancheong’s got crammed into his mouth, his shirt rucked up around his armpits and pants tugged down to his ankles as Sancheong pounds into him from behind, leaning over his back and biting hard into his boyfriend’s shoulder.  E.co lifts his head up just a little at the sound of the door opening and does nothing but wave half-heartedly at the onlookers, eyes hazy and unfocused as Sancheong shows no signs of stopping.

 

Simba doesn’t seem like he intends to do anything but stare, so Eddy grabs him by the shoulders and hauls him backwards, slamming the door closed. 

 

“Holy shit, my poor eyes…”  Eddy murmurs, shuddering as he looks up at Simba’s dilated pupils and frowns.  “…at least they’re not dead, I guess…”

 

Simba doesn’t look like he wants to go anywhere, mind elsewhere (probably thinking about how much he wants to be a part of what’s going on in that room), and Eddy ends up dragging him back to the living room where Prince Mak is clearly confusing and probably offending the new members with his wild hand gestures and broken Korean.

 

“Is everything okay?”  Zica looks relieved when Simba and Eddy return, mostly because it makes Prince Mak stop talking. 

 

Simba’s brain still isn’t working so Eddy has to answer for the both of them.  “Yeah, everything’s good… but we should probably, uh, give them some space…” 

 

Zica and Yul nod, although they still look a bit concerned (they probably weren’t used to fights on the level of Sancheong and E.co’s when they were in A.T.O), and Prince Mak rejoins Eddy in the kitchen area. 

 

“Are they…?”  Prince Mak doesn’t need to finish his question.

 

“I have seen more of either of them than I ever wanted to.”  Eddy grimaces as Prince Mak sends him a sly smile, returning to mangling vegetables with terrible chopping technique beside his exasperated roommate. 

 

“Oh my god, why are you holding the knife like that?”

 

“Like what?”  Prince Mak asks, waving the knife around and nearly giving them another reason to make a trip to a doctor.

 

“Like a fucking neanderthal would.”  Prince Mak just stares at his grip on the knife and Eddy sighs.  “Here, let me show you.” 

 

He leans around Prince Mak, placing his hand around Prince Mak’s on the knife and moving his hand for him.  Eddy’s standing on his toes so he can rest his chin on Prince’s shoulder and their arms are pressed together as Eddy maneuvers them through basic cutting techniques, Prince Mak laughing as Eddy tries his best not to be insulting about Prince Mak’s lack of cooking knowledge and fails miserably.  Eddy wouldn’t really think too much about the situation, except he’s hit with errant thought that Prince smells kind of nice and he can feel his heartbeat from where his chest is pressed into Prince Mak’s back.  Prince is genuinely smiling and laughing and it’s because of him, and Eddy can’t help but smile and laugh along with him even while he’s criticizing him, and it’s making his stomach feel kind of funny and his palms kind of sweaty. 

 

He repeats certain strokes a few more times than he probably needs to because for some odd reason he doesn’t really want to let go of his roommate, and he momentarily forgets that the kitchen and living room are really one conjoined space and that Yul and Zica and Simba are all sitting there and could be watching them doing something that roommates who are definitely not gay definitely don’t do.

 

Prince Mak is, embarrassingly enough, not as caught up in the moment as Eddy is.  “Uh… dude?  I think I’ve got it now, you can probably let go of my hand…”

 

“Uh, yeah, sorry…”  Eddy recoils, letting go of Prince Mak’s arm like he’s touched a hot frying pan and quickly turns to face the sink so he doesn’t have to look at his roommate and so said roommate can’t see how fast his ears are turning red. 

 

He can feel Prince Mak’s curious eyes on the back of his head anyways.  “Bro, everything okay?”

 

Eddy’s spared from trying to produce an acceptable and convincing answer as E.co teeters into the room on long shaky legs. Everyone turns to stare at him he collapses on the old couch behind Zica and Yul.  Eddy and Prince Mak stare in wide-eyed shock, Eddy doesn’t have time to really note Zica and Yul’s expressions because he’s too busy looking at E.co in horror, and Simba smiles knowingly at the oldest member but his mouth drops as his eyes wander down E.co’s body. 

 

It’s bad enough that E.co looks like he was just fucked hard, hair dishevelled and falling messily across his face, eyes bleary, body slack and skin covered in a thin sheen of sweat, but worse than all of that is what he’s wearing.  He’s wearing the sweatpants.  Sancheong’s sweatpants.  The really gross ones that are Sancheong’s absolute favorite that he only wears when E.co’s not around because everyone knows E.co totally hates them, but there he is sprawled out on the couch in the very sweats that usually cause his left eye to twitch and his blood pressure to rise dangerously.  And if that doesn’t just scream “I just had rough angry makeup sex with my roommate”, nothing does.

 

They need to get him out of there before the new members can put two and two together.  They might be able to pass off the rest of E.co’s appearance as a result of a violent fight with Sancheong, but not the sweats. 

 

Simba scrambles to get into leader mode.  “Joonyoung, can we talk?”  E.co doesn’t look like he’s going to move anywhere, stretching out further on the couch.  “In private?”

 

“Can’t we talk here?”  He mumbles, turning on his side to face the television as Simba gestures for Eddy to come over.  “I’m comfy.”  
 

Simba’s speaking low and calmly, like there’s nothing out of the ordinary about this situation.  Zica doesn’t seem too concerned, favoring the attention of one of their many dogs over the conversation happening behind him, but Yul’s eyes are focused on their inconvenient oldest member.  “No, I think we should go talk in your room.”

 

“Why?  What’s wrong with right here?”  E.co reaches out to stroke at Simba’s hair, and Eddy’s pretty sure his heart stops for a second as Yul’s sharp eyes take in everything.

 

“The pants.  You’re wearing the fucking pants.”  Eddy hisses into E.co’s ear as he makes it to the couch.

 

E.co looks down at his legs and laughs.  “So I am.”

 

Eddy doesn’t even want to know what exactly Sancheong does to make him like this, but just the fact that their childish-faced maknae can ruin E.co so thoroughly is disturbing enough on its own.  “So take them off.”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

Eddy discreetly curls his fingers into the back of E.co’s hair where Yul can’t see.  “Look, _they_ are right there…”  Eddy pulls threateningly at E.co’s hair, tugging his head so he’s forced to look at Zica and Yul sitting on the floor in front of him.  “…and they’re going to figure out what you just did because of Hadon’s gross sweats, so either you get your skinny ass off this couch and take the pants off in your room, or I’ll take them off right here for you.”

 

“No to both of those ideas, Edward.”

 

Simba’s eyes widen and Zica looks up, because using Eddy’s full name really isn’t a great way to improve any situation.  “Seriously, get out of here before you get us all caught.”

 

E.co just winks up at Eddy when he gives a particularly hard tug on his hair and grabs the waistband of the sweats.  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”  
 

“Okay, guys…”  Simba tries to assert his authority over the quickly deteriorating situation while the rest of the members stare on (except Sancheong, who’s undoubtedly doing laundry), but he tries too late, because Eddy pulls the sweatpants down with no resistance from E.co and gives everyone a great view of E.co’s dick.

 

“I tried to tell you…”  E.co frowns up at Eddy as Zica’s eyebrows fly up and Yul covers his eyes and Simba groans and Prince Mak drops a plate on his foot in the kitchen and Eddy’s mouth falls open.  Of course he’d be going commando in the disgusting sweats. 

 

E.co rolls his eyes as he tugs the pants back up, gesturing to his crotch and looking over at the new members.  “Yeah, this is a completely normal thing here, we just like to show each other our genitals.”  Yul blushes and looks at the floor, but Zica actually laughs, unfazed while Simba has the first useful thought any of them have had and throws a blanket over E.co’s legs.

 

“Well, at least nobody’s going to be thinking about the sweats after that…”  Prince Mak laughs as Eddy rejoins him in the kitchen, face beet red.

 

Eddy’s too embarrassed to say anything, seeing E.co’s penis twice in the same day and maybe sort of unintentionally feeling up Prince Mak in the kitchen too much for him to handle, and they finish prepping food in silence.  At least until Sancheong walks in.

 

“Hey, anybody seen my sweats?”  His question earns him a whisk in the back of the head.

 

 

 

 

Eddy’s also oddly not all that happy when Prince Mak spends a night out without him.

 

“So, what do you want to do tonight?”  Eddy looks over at Prince from the floor of the studio, where the members are spread out and stretching at the end of a long dance practice.

 

Prince Mak doesn’t even look up from his phone.  “Actually, I’ve got plans already.”

 

“Oh?”  Eddy’s not really sure why that makes him feel so disappointed.

 

He’s normally happy to have Prince out of his hair for even just a few minutes at a time.  They spend literally every hour of every day together, beyond when he’s gone doing his radio show.  He likes it when Prince Mak meets new people, finds new friends to go do stuff with.  But this time it leaves a sour taste in his mouth and his stomach churns uneasily.

 

“Yeah, I’m going to get food with Zhou Mi.”

 

Yul’s face perks up at the name.  “Ooh, really?”

 

Prince Mak nods, a big grin on his face, and Eddy frowns ever so slightly.  He remembers when they met on _The Show_ during their last promotions, and they’d hit it off right then and there.  It was really cool (and good publicity) to have someone so comparatively famous take such an interest in one of their members, but Eddy can’t remember them ever spending an evening together before.

 

Everyone’s excited back at the dorms, because Zhou Mi’s going to pick Prince Mak up.  Simba and E.co are watching from the kitchen window, completely unashamed while Eddy begrudgingly watches with them.

 

“This is embarrassing, what if he looks up and sees us?”  Eddy moans.

 

“Then a famous person looked at us!  How cool is that?!”  Simba says excitedly, pressing his forehead against the glass.

 

“Ooh, there he is!”  E.co points as a car pulls up and a tall sharp figure emerges from the driver’s seat.

 

“Woah, so tall!”  Simba exclaims.  “Taller than us, I think!” 

 

“He’s not _that_ tall.”  Eddy frowns, staring intently at the man outside.

 

Simba gives Eddy a quick onceover, looming over him as he does so.  “Compared to you, he’s practically a giant!”

 

E.co nods while Eddy scowls at their leader, leaning further forward and gasping.  “Ooh, look at those arms… and that face, damn!  Henry sure is one lucky guy!  I wonder if he’d introduce us…”

 

“You’d totally bang him, wouldn’t you?”  Simba directs a sly smile in E.co’s direction, who grins back.

 

“You know I would.”

 

Simba laughs.  “Wouldn’t Hadon have something to say about that?”

 

E.co’s grin widens as he presses his hands up against the window.  “I’m sure he’d like to join in.”

 

Eddy’s busy making gagging noises and trying to wipe the image of the man outside doing anything at all with his bandmates from his mind when Simba makes a comment that turns his attention back to the scene beyond the window.   

 

“And he gets a hug too!”  Simba’s saying, and Eddy feels his stomach twist painfully.  Sure enough, Prince Mak has run up to the tall Chinese male outside and is currently engaged in a disturbingly tight embrace with him.  What the hell, why does this guy get to hug Prince like that?  Eddy can’t recall ever hugging like that with Prince Mak and they’ve been living in _extremely_ close quarters for well over a year.

 

Then Sancheong walks in with Zica and Yul in tow.  “We didn’t miss him, did we?”  He asks, pressing his face up against the glass and Zica and Yul follow suit.

 

“Nope, just in time!”  Simba gestures with his head to where Zhou Mi is finally (did he really need to hold him for such an indecently long amount of time?) letting go of Prince Mak and gesturing for Prince to get into the passenger seat of his car.

 

“Wow.”  Yul’s eyes are wide and sparkling, expression completely starstruck.

 

“He’s even got a car!”  Zica rumbles, mouth forming a surprised circle. 

 

“Shit, he’s not that impressive… He’s just a singer, just like us.”  Eddy can’t help but scowl as Prince Mak gets in the car and is whisked away by the older male. 

 

E.co gives Eddy a strange look while Sancheong watches the car drive away with longing eyes.  “Yeah, but he’s famous, and we aren’t!  I’ve got to admit, I’m a little jealous of Henry…”

 

Jealous.  Eddy thinks about that word a lot that night as he opts to stay in and watch television with the rest of the guys, even though it’s his first night out in a long time.  He’s not jealous, is he?  What is there to be jealous of?  He doesn’t want to be in Prince Mak’s place.  And there’s definitely no reason to be jealous of Zhou Mi, right?  In fact, he feels bad for the guy.  He has to spend time with that annoying Australian idiot and his dumb accent and his stupid pretty face and his boner-causing toned body and he doesn’t even get to have sex with him.  There’s no reason to be jealous at all.

 

At least that’s what Eddy tries to tell himself when Prince Mak gets back later and can’t talk about anything beyond how much fun he had with the Chinese ballad singer and how nice and wonderful and funny he is and how he can’t wait to see him again and Eddy has to bite back the urge to tell him to shut his stupid mouth.

 

 

 

 

Eddy is definitely not happy when Prince Mak wakes him up in the middle of the night when they have to be at rehearsal very early the next morning.

 

Prince Mak doesn’t actually intentionally wake him up.  It’s his loud moaning that does it.  When Eddy wakes up, blurry-eyed and disoriented, Prince is on the mattress inches away from his own and he won’t stop groaning and thrashing about, and he’s certain he’s doing something perverted and Eddy’s going to kill him for waking him up so fucking early. 

 

He’s just about sought out Prince’s idiotic and undeniably pretty neck as his eyes adjust to the darkness when he realizes that he’s actually not jerking off.

 

“Prince?  Prince?”  Something’s wrong.  “Henry?”

 

He’s not even sure if Prince Mak is awake.  His eyes are sort of open but they’re completely unfocused, rolling back in his skull as his hands clutch hard at his ears.  He’s contorting and tensing on the bed, curling in on himself and rolling from side to side.  He doesn’t even seem to be aware that he’s moaning and he’s absolutely drenched in sweat, shirt sticking to his chest and hair damp against his skin.

 

“Shit, Henry…”  Eddy presses a hand to his forehead (easier said than done because Prince won’t stop moving around) and his wet skin is positively burning against Eddy’s palm. 

 

Goddamn, this asshole.  He would choose to start dying during the few precious hours they have allotted for sleep.  Although Eddy’s not sure he could go back to sleep even if he wanted to.  His heart’s suddenly pounding in his chest and his stomach’s twisting into knots as he keeps his hand clamped on his roommate’s face.  “Just hang on, okay?  I’m going to get Youngjin, then I’ll be right back.”

 

He doesn’t think Prince Mak can hear him, and apparently Simba can’t either.  He bursts into Simba’s room without ceremony, flinging the door open and yelling his name, and the lanky lump doesn’t move from where he’s sprawled across his mattress, limbs sticking out in all directions and snores muffled by the pillow his face is buried in. 

 

“Youngjin?  Youngjin?”  Eddy grabs his arms and shakes hard, but Simba doesn’t stir, smacking his lips together and snorting into his pillow.  “Youngjin!  Youngjin, get your bony ass up!  Youngjin, come on, Henry’s dying and-”

 

Simba suddenly sits bolt upright, head-butting Eddy in the nose with a resounding _crack._

 

“Fuck, Youngjin, what the fuck!”  It’s dark in Simba’s room but Eddy doesn’t need to see to know that blood’s dripping from his nose at an alarming rate, and his voice is nasally and distorted as he pinches at the bridge of his nose.  “Asshole!”  
 

“Shit, Eddy?  What’s going on?”  Simba eyes are blown wide as he scratches at the back of his head and stretches.  “Are you okay?”

 

“Fuck no, I’m not okay!  I’m bleeding all over the place and I think you just broke my fucking nose and Henry’s dying and-”

 

“Henry’s dying?”  Simba springs to his feet, flipping on the lights and grimacing at the blood dripping onto Eddy’s shirt.

 

Eddy ignores the fact that his nose stings so badly that tears are forming in his eyes as he drags Simba to where Prince Mak is still twisting horribly and panting on his mattress.  Simba takes one look at him and calls a manager while Eddy pushes hair off Prince Mak’s forehead then places a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently while holding a tissue to his bloody nose with a free hand.

 

Eddy doesn’t let go of Prince Mak when one of their managers shows up and has a minor panic attack and he doesn’t let go as he and Simba help a barely conscious Prince Mak to his feet and outside into the van and he doesn’t let go as he slides into the backseat beside him, tucking an arm behind his back and pulling his head into his shoulder without really thinking about it.

 

“You don’t have to go…”  Simba tells him, getting ready to sit in the passenger’s seat, but Eddy stops him.

 

“Go back to sleep, I’ve got him.”  Prince Mak lets out a particularly painful sounding groan, grabbing at his ears, and Eddy pulls him closer in alarm.

 

“If you’re sure…”

 

“Of course, I’m the only one who can understand him.  Besides, I’ve always taken care of him.” 

 

Simba looks eternally grateful for the chance to get some additional sleep as he takes off his hoodie and hands it to Eddy.  “Okay, but wear this.  Your shirt looks like you killed somebody.”

 

Eddy’s not sure when his nose stopped bleeding, or if it actually has, but he could care less.  He’s too focused on his friend as they make the trip to the hospital, holding him tight and talking to him in tones that are soft and low.  “Come on bro, you’re going to be okay… come on, Henry, you dumbass…”

 

They get to the hospital and Eddy has to explain that they’re not there for him (he’s got blood all down his front) and he lets Prince Mak slump against his shoulder in the waiting room as he checks out his nose which looks mercifully unbroken (he’d never forgive Simba if it was).  He even keeps a hand firmly pressed into Prince Mak’s back when they finally see the doctor, who tells Eddy and their manager that this is all because of that stupid ear infection, and that Prince Mak probably feels like his head is splitting open right now.

 

They leave with a handful of prescriptions and Prince Mak sedated to the point where Eddy basically has to drag him to the van, and he still doesn’t let go of him once, even when their manager gives him a strange look when he lets Prince Mak sleep against his shoulder in the back.  It’s not like Eddy to do this, he always pushes Prince and his grabby-hands away in front of other people, but he can’t bring himself to give two shits about the way his manager looks at him as he strokes Prince’s hair and tucks his head tightly into his chest.

 

Simba’s sleeping in his chair by the door when they get back, but he wakes at the sound of the door opening and he helps Eddy drag Prince back to bed.  He watches with tired eyes and a small smile as Eddy fusses over his roommate, tucking the blankets tight around him and arranging the pillows under his head.

 

“What are you smiling at?”  Eddy asks when he’s done making sure Prince Mak is comfortable in his bed.

 

“Nothing.”  Simba’s smile grows as Eddy glowers at him.  “It’s just weird seeing you being nice.”

 

“I’m not.” 

 

“You look like a worried boyfriend…”

 

Normally Eddy would be looking for something to throw at Simba, but he’s too busy towelling sweat from Prince Mak’s forehead.  “I’m definitely not…  I don’t even like him like that.”

 

“Uh huh.”  Simba shakes his head as he turns to leave, smile not fading from his lips.  “Get some sleep, we’ve got to be up in a few hours.”

 

Eddy spends the rest of the time he should be sleeping watching Prince Mak’s face for any sign of discomfort, with a small thought in the back of his brain niggling at him the whole time.  He’d certainly suffer a lot, including a bloody nose and sacrificing an entire night of sleep, just to make sure his friend (who he definitely doesn’t have any sort of romantic feelings for at all) is okay.

 

Prince Mak takes a few days to recover, but he does get back to his regular level of sickliness. 

 

“Hey, could you do me a favour?”  He asks Eddy one evening, sitting on the new couch and looking at his laptop screen with a pale face.

 

“Depends.”  Eddy’s busy watching Sancheong demonstrating some of his gymnastic talent to Zica (who looks strangely interested in Sancheong’s flexibility) and Yul (who looks vaguely horrified).

 

“If I ever get sick like that again could you just, like, snap my neck or something?”  Eddy whips his head around to look at his roommate, who’s staring at his computer with nauseous intensity.  “Just kill me dead, but I don’t want to feel any pain… you could probably break a dude’s neck, right?”

 

“Uh… maybe, but why?”

 

Prince Mak shakes his head, eyes wide.  “I am, like, flat broke.  I seriously cannot afford to go the hospital again… so if I get sick again, will you kill me?”

 

"I don't really feel like going to jail over your sick ass..."  He grins at Prince Mak, but Prince still looks kind of terrified by the bank statement Eddy assumes he's looking at , so Eddy takes out his phone, checks the time, tries to remember their schedules.  “Do you want to go out?” 

 

“What?”  That makes Prince Mak look up from his laptop.

 

“Like go outside, idiot.  Do you want to get out of here for a bit?  I’m pretty sure it’s our night out…”

 

“If you pay for my bus fare, sure.”

 

Eddy does exactly that, because Prince Mak has someplace in mind that he wants to go.  Although Eddy’s not quite sure he knows how to get there, because they get on three separate buses and end up in a neighborhood that Eddy doesn’t recognize at all.

 

“Where exactly are we trying to go?”  Eddy asks, peering out of the bus window and frowning. 

 

“Uh… Cheonggyecheon.”  Prince Mak says, looking at a map on his phone with confused eyes.

 

Eddy groans.  “Dumbass, that’s in the exact opposite direction of here…”

 

Four separate buses and Eddy reading directions instead of Prince Mak later, they make it to Cheonggyecheon Stream.  Eddy’s not really sure why Prince wanted to come here, of all places.  It’s one of those places that generally only couples go to at night, and today doesn’t seem to be an exception.  The only people they pass are tall guys with their arms around the shoulders of their small cute dates, and Eddy tries to ignore the strange looks they get as Prince Mak shows his usual disregard for personal space and walks way too close to Eddy.

 

“Why here, of all places?”  Eddy asks, self-consciously pulling his hat down a little further on his head and hoping beyond hope that nobody can recognize them (not that people ever really do, but if they were ever going to, it would be while Prince is doing a pretty good impression of being Eddy’s boyfriend).

 

“I like to come here sometimes to, I don’t know, get away from it all, I guess?  When I can find my way here, anyways…”

 

“Huh.”  It is, admittedly, kind of nice here.  It’s downtown, but it’s quiet, the occasional footsteps and quiet chatter and a low drone of distant traffic and the gurgle of the water the only sounds beyond Prince Mak’s unusually subdued voice.  There’s neon lights and moonlight reflected in the water, and it’s strangely private with the trees lining the river and the low concrete walls and the paintings and quiet footpaths, and it’s definitely not the kind of place they ever go to together.  Eddy’s not really sure what they’re supposed to do here, and Prince Mak doesn’t seem to want to do anything but walk quietly, but a couple passes by with food and Eddy sees the lust in his friend’s eyes.

 

“Do you want to get something to eat?”  He asks, and Prince Mak shakes his head sadly.

 

“I literally cannot afford to buy anything right now…”

 

“I’ll pay.”  Eddy says, and Prince Mak turns to face him with a surprised smile. 

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, sure, why not?”  Eddy leads them in the direction of food, and Prince Mak won’t stop smiling at him.  “What?  Stop looking at me like that…”

 

“Nothing.  It’s just… it’s weird, you’re being nice…”

 

“Shut up.  I can be nice sometimes.”

 

He kind of regrets being nice as he lets Prince Mak choose what to eat (fried chicken, what a surprise) and the ahjumma at the stand gives him a knowing look as he pulls out his wallet and pays for both of them.  She does give them a little bit extra, but that’s only because she says (much to Eddy’s surprise and embarrassment, Prince Mak can’t understand her) that they look handsome together.  Thankfully Prince Mak doesn’t understand and it’s too dark out for him to see how Eddy blushes.

 

They sit on the bank of the river as they eat, Eddy looking out at the ripples in the water in front of them, Prince Mak occasionally glancing up at the couples that walk by.  He looks particularly wistful as he watches a couple share a kiss as they pass by, the girl standing on the tips of her toes and the guy leaning down and laughing, and Eddy rushes to say something.

 

“So, uh, what do you think of Chanyul and Daehwan?” 

 

Prince Mak tears his eyes away from the happily kissing people and looks down at his chicken.  “They seem nice enough, I guess.”

 

“You guess?”

 

Prince Mak sighs, eyes tired.  “Well, I can’t really talk to them, so I don’t really know.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

There’s a bit of a pause, and Eddy stops chewing to watch Prince for a while, the downcast eyes and tired posture tugging painfully at his heart for reasons he doesn’t quite understand. 

 

Prince Mak licks his fingers and scoots closer to Eddy, looking out at the water with him.  “Do you ever… I don’t know, wish things had turned out differently?”

 

“What do you mean?”  Prince Mak’s sitting so close to him that their shoulders are touching, and it’s making Eddy feel uncomfortably warm.

 

Prince’s voice is so unusually quiet.  “Well, you could have been a lot of things, y’know?  Like, there are so many things you’re good at… you can sing and dance, you could’ve been a really great chef, you could have even been a kung-fu movie star or something… but instead you’re here…”

 

Eddy tries really hard to not think about how close Prince Mak is to him.  It’s not like he’s not used to them touching, they have sex practically all the time but it never makes Eddy’s palms sweat like they are now. 

 

“Dunno.  I mean sure, I could have done a lot of different things, but I kind of like it here.  I know we aren’t famous and we hardly make any money and we barely ever have any free time, but I think I might kind of like those five other idiots.  I’ve also got a really dumb roommate who’s always sick and hurting himself and getting lost and he’s really annoying and he can’t stop eating chicken…” 

 

Prince Mak smacks him in the shoulder and Eddy laughs.  “…but he’s also a pretty great guy.”  A little smile grows on Prince’s lips and Eddy smiles too, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants.  “Why do you ask?”

 

Prince Mak huddles a little closer to Eddy as a cool breeze knocks his hair out of place.  “I just… I can’t help but wonder what things would be like if I hadn’t come here… I feel so lonely here sometimes… sometimes I feel like you’re the only friend I’ve got.”

 

Eddy frowns, staring at Prince Mak’s smooth skin and the neon lights reflected in his downcast eyes.  “The rest of the guys all love you, you know that…”

 

“I can’t even talk to them though!  I know that they try to look out for me, but I don’t understand them and they don’t understand me…”

 

Eddy nudges at Prince with his elbow.  “What about that tall Chinese guy?  He seems to like you a lot…”

 

Prince Mak shakes his head.  “Zhou Mi?  He’s great, but he’s always busy, he can’t be there for me when I need him… and he’s not going to be there for me when I’m dying in the middle of the night, not like you were.” 

 

“It wasn’t a big deal…”

 

Eddy can feel the tips of his ears burn hot as Prince Mak turns to face him.  “No, Youngjin told me what you did for me... at least, he tried to tell me and mostly ended up making crazy hand gestures for a while, but I think I got the gist... so… thanks, mate.”

 

Eddy’s embarrassed, they don’t ever have conversations like this, but he smiles in spite of himself, full lips curving at his friend’s praise.

 

Then Prince Mak says something, something probably small and insignificant to him, but something that Eddy won’t forget for the rest of his life.

 

“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”  He looks Eddy dead in the eyes, round cheekbones highlighted shining in the moonlight, hair falling messily across his forehead, and he smiles at him.  For just a second, Eddy swears that he smiles at him in the way Sancheong smiles when E.co kisses him and E.co smiles when Sancheong tucks an arm around his waist, he smiles like Eddy makes him happier than anybody else in the whole world ever could and nobody’s ever smiled at Eddy like that, and Eddy falls hard.

 

He looks at the beautiful idiot sitting right beside him, pretty lips parted into a wide smile, and he falls desperately and hopelessly for him.  He’s hit with the sudden realization that he’s probably liked Prince for a very long time and everything weird he’s felt and said and done makes so much sense now because _fuck_ , he liked him, he liked his roommate, his friend, his _male_ roommate, his _male_ friend and he only understands that now.  But now it’s even worse, because his heart’s thumping wildly in his chest and every instinct he has is telling him to lean forwards and kiss that pretty smiling mouth and he doesn’t even want anything else, he just wants to kiss him and maybe hold his hand and play with his hair, and he’s never felt this way about anyone before, and oh shit, he’s in love, isn’t he? 

 

He’s never been in love before.  He’s had crushes and pined over girls way out of his league, but he’s never felt anything like this at all.  He knows now that he’d do anything for this dumb Australian, that he’d sacrifice all the sleep in the world just for him to be healthy, that he’d let Simba give him a bloody nose as many times as it takes if it would make him happy, that all he wants is for him to smile like that at Eddy and never stop.

 

But Prince does stop, raising an eyebrow at Eddy and looking at him like he’s just said he hates douchey sneakers or something, probably because Eddy’s sudden revelation that he maybe kind of sort of might just possibly be in love with his closest friend has caused him to lose control of his facial muscles and he’s just kind of staring dumbly at Prince Mak with his mouth wide open.

 

“Bro, you doing okay?”  Prince Mak asks, and Eddy thinks he should just tell him right then and there, in front of the river and under the moonlight and while their thighs are pressed together and while Prince looks like the most damningly gorgeous thing Eddy’s ever seen…

 

Then there’s soft and feminine laughter behind them, a guy picking up his undoubtedly adorable girlfriend and spinning her around in his arms, and Prince watches them and sighs. 

 

“I wish I had a girlfriend… someone like her, small and cute.  Then you wouldn’t have to take care of me all the time.”  His voice is desperate and his face is full of longing and Eddy knows that Prince never looks at him with longing like that, and it feels like he’s just been punched in the heart. 

 

On the bus ride back, Eddy is nearly silent, and Prince Mak thanks him for the chicken and laughs at videos on his phone and acts completely oblivious to the fact that his roommate has just fallen miserably for him. 

 

“Thanks for tonight.”  He smiles as he climbs into the bed next to Eddy’s when they get back to the dorm.  “No homo, but I kind of love you, bro.  So thanks.”

 

Eddy has to force a laugh and he half-heartedly throws a pillow in Prince’s direction.  Not only has he never been in love before, he’s also never felt heartache like he does when he spends the rest of the night unable to sleep as he listens to Prince Mak snore beside him.  It doesn’t look like the heartache is going to end anytime soon either.

 

Because Prince Mak doesn’t like guys, and it doesn’t matter if they have sex or do everything together every single day or that Eddy might possibly be in love in with him, because he’ll never want Eddy as anything more than a friend.

 

 


	4. things I shouldn't have said (but I went right ahead and said anyways because I'm kind of an idiot)

“I’m bored.”  E.co declares, flinging his legs over the side of the new couch and making Eddy immediately suspicious. 

 

Things have been weird for Eddy.  He’s constantly torn between wanting to push Prince Mak away and wanting to pull him impossibly closer (preferably close enough that Prince is sitting in his lap and their lips are pressed together).

 

But they can’t be closer.  Prince Mak just doesn’t understand.  It doesn’t matter if he jokingly flirts with Eddy on every single show they’re on together, because he never stops talking on camera about how lonely he is or how much he wants a girlfriend, and he won’t stop flirting terribly backstage with the girls who do their makeup, and he even has the nerve to try to introduce Eddy to a rookie girl group that’s on after them at Arirang.

 

So tonight Eddy’s settled for pushing him away.  Specifically out of the kitchen, because he somehow managed to ruin the rice for tomorrow (it’s all one congealed lump) and he set a hot pan down on Eddy’s hand, so he’s currently hiding in their room to try to avoid Eddy’s wrath.

 

Eddy might feel a little bad about it, honestly.  Maybe he yelled at Prince a little too much (but damnit, the pan thing hurt) or slapped the back of his head a little too hard.  But Prince just makes him feel so bad.  Every time he makes some stupid joke about how he’d want to be Yul’s boyfriend if Yul was a girl and every time he leans in for a fake kiss with Eddy on camera and Eddy’s forced to push him away and every time he directs his stupid smile at some poor cute girl that works at PopAsia Eddy feels something unpleasantly akin to being kicked in the chest (which is something he knows all too well from his years of martial arts training). 

 

And maybe he’s a little on edge because Sancheong and E.co seem to be getting even worse about keeping their joint relationship status concealed.  Especially E.co.

 

“Hadon… I’m bored…”  He whines, getting to his feet and peering over Sancheong’s (who’s situated quietly on the old couch, curled up with a textbook) shoulder.

 

It’s probably something to do with Sancheong going back to university and having literally no spare time at all between his idol duties and class responsibilities.  The oldest member has always had a high sex drive; all of the original members use sex as a way to deal with stress and E.co’s definitely no exception.  It was hard enough for him to curb having sex anywhere beyond outside of his room when Zica and Yul arrived, and now having his young boyfriend constantly tied up with schoolwork seems to be taking its toll on both his nerves and patience. 

 

This is in turn taking its toll on both Eddy, whose grip tightens on the knife he’s currently julienning vegetables with, and Simba, who looks up warily from his laptop at the sound of E.co’s complaining.  Zica doesn’t really pay the oldest member any attention from where he’s sitting on the living room floor, watching an anime with one of his knees just barely touching Yul’s thigh beside him, but Yul looks thankful for the distraction (the other members have a suspicion that he doesn’t like cartoons quite as much as his roommate).

 

“I’m studying…”  Sancheong says distractedly, eyes not leaving his textbook.

 

“Everyone needs a little break now and then…”  E.co purrs into his boyfriend’s ear as he slings his thin arms around his neck.

 

“But I have a big test this week.”  Sancheong doesn’t pull away from E.co’s lanky arms but he doesn’t relax into them either, and E.co’s seductive smile quickly fades into a frown.  

 

“But we haven’t done anything together in ages…”  E.co’s plump lips curve into a pretty pout as Sancheong continues to show no interest in him.

 

That statement could be construed as being innocent, but both Eddy and Simba know better and can unfortunately see where this is going.

 

“Hey, Joonyoung…”  Simba tries, but Sancheong finally gets fed up with E.co draping himself over him.

 

“I need to study, okay?”  Sancheong pushes E.co’s arms off him, which is the first mistake, because E.co draws himself up to his full height and flips his hair dramatically as Eddy and Simba both hold their breaths.

 

“Well, if you feel like taking a break, I’ll be in our room.”  Eddy and Simba let out a collective sigh, because it could have been a lot worse.

 

“Sure, okay, whatever.”  Is all Sancheong says, which turns out to be the second mistake, because E.co narrows his eyes at the lack of attention.

 

“Lying on your bed.”  E.co announces as he walks out of the room.  “Naked.” 

 

Eddy’s grip on the knife slips and he has to check to make sure all his fingers are still attached to his hand as Zica turns around to look at the oldest member’s retreating figure curiously and Yul looks like he’s unsure as to whether it’s supposed to be joke or not and Simba lets out an awkward barking laugh.

 

“Hah!  Joonyoung-hyung!  He’s always so funny!”  Simba smiles unconvincingly and speaks suspiciously loudly as Eddy glares at him from the kitchen, because is that really the best he can do? 

 

E.co’s departing statement seems to have the effect he’d intended on their maknae though, because Sancheong’s finally looking up from his textbook with big dilated eyes. 

 

“Well… it… looks like I might have other things to go… uh… do…”  He mumbles to nobody in particular, closing his textbook slowly and rising stiffly from the couch before he heads in the direction of both his room and E.co, who is undoubtedly actually lying naked on the youngest member’s bed.

 

Fuck Sancheong.  This has got to be the end for all of them.  There’s no way their new additions won’t think that the oldest and youngest members are screwing now.  Eddy and Simba both literally brace themselves for the questions, the accusations, the judgements that are sure to come, Eddy gripping the knife with all of his strength and ready to disembowel himself at any second if needs be, Simba digging his fingers into the arms of his chair with painful force.

 

But nothing comes.  Zica has the faintest hint of a smile playing on his lips as he turns back to his anime, and Yul’s expression is strange.  Eddy tries his best to place it, and his best guess would have to be somewhere between disbelieving and hopeful?  Maybe?  And that’s only for a second, before Zica nudges him gently with his elbow to direct his attention back toward their show.  They do share a brief moment of eye contact that doesn’t go unnoticed by Eddy, Yul mouths something to Zica who mouths something back, but they don’t actually make any sound so he has no idea what their little exchange was about.

 

Simba relaxes back into his chair, and Eddy finishes up his meal prep in silence, trading a quick “I can’t believe our idiot maknae and that stupid fashion school beanpole didn’t get us all caught” stare with their leader before heading to his own room for some merciful sleep.  If he’s sleeping, he’s not worrying.

 

Unfortunately Prince Mak is still awake when Eddy opens the door to their room (he was hoping to avoid some time alone with Prince because his stupid heart won’t stop pounding in chest and his skin always gets so sweaty whenever they’re alone together now), but just barely.  He’s huddled under his blankets, head propped up by a mountain of pillows and stuffed animals, his face pale and sickly looking in the reflected light from his laptop screen.  Basically, he looks like shit, and even then Eddy doesn’t want to stop looking at him.

 

His drooping eyelids flicker open and he pauses whatever movie he had playing as Eddy gently shuts the door behind himself.  “Hey.”

 

“Hey.”  Eddy replies quietly, hoping his roommate will fall asleep quickly and leave him alone so he doesn’t have to endure any more of his stupidly loveable accent or his crushing desperation for a girlfriend.

 

Of course things don’t go Eddy’s way.  Prince Mak sits up in his bed.  “Is, uh, your hand okay?”  His voice is strangely quiet, he probably thinks Eddy is still mad at him from his disastrous time in the kitchen earlier.  “I’m really sorry about that…”

 

“It’s fine.”  Eddy murmurs, turning his back on his roommate so he doesn’t have to look at him while he’s changing into some old baggy pyjamas.

 

Prince smiles at him when he finishes changing, pulling the covers down on his bed and patting the space beside him.  “Do you want to watch the last half of this movie with me?”

 

“What movie is it?”  Being curled up in bed and watching a movie with the dumbass that makes his stomach tie itself up in knots with just one lilting inflection of his language-mangling voice sounds like a horrifically bad idea, but they always watched movies like this before.  Prince looks hopeful, like he wants to make up for his culinary mistakes earlier, and Eddy can’t bring himself to say no, so he slides into bed beside his roommate.  He mentally cheers and slaps himself when Prince Mak pulls the covers over the both of them, even though it’s the middle of summer (stupid Prince and his perpetual sickness).

 

“ _Kingsman_.”  Prince Mak says, waiting for Eddy to get comfortable beside him before starting the movie again.  “You haven’t seen the end of this, right?  I know we’ve been trying to watch it for ages…”

 

Eddy shakes his head, feeling more than a slight twinge of guilt for lying, especially when Prince Mak smiles at him exhaustedly and accidentally brushes their arms together while he’s finding a cozy position to lay in that also accommodates for a good laptop screen angle for the both of them.

 

They don’t even make it five minutes in before Prince Mak falls asleep, head slumping onto Eddy’s shoulder and one of his legs brushing up against Eddy’s as his breathing slows and his muscles lose their tension.  His lips are curved into a tiny smile as he snores softly and Eddy wishes more than anything that he could bring his hand up around Prince’s shoulders to hold him or that he could lean down and press a kiss to his forehead or just even that his little smile was for him.  But he can’t do those things because Prince isn’t his boyfriend and it wouldn’t be right, and that smile is probably just because Prince is finally warm and comfortable from leeching his body heat. 

 

So Eddy does what he does every time they try to watch this movie: watch the last hour of it alone (this time makes the ninth time he’s seen the ending) while Prince Mak sleeps happily on his chest.  He doesn’t even really watch, he can recite the dialogue practically line for line at this point.  But he still lets the movie run to the end.  When it’s over, he’ll do what he has every time before: he’ll close the laptop gently and place it somewhere safe and away from Prince’s tossing and turning, and then he’ll carefully slide himself out from under his roommate, taking care to not wake him up before he heads to his own bed and then he'll wish that he could have stayed where we was.  But right now he’s settled for focusing on how the light from the screen highlights different angles of Prince’s face with each scene change and how Prince breathes softly in his ear and how comfortable and nice he feels tucked up next to him, because it’s a close as he’s ever going to get to having Prince Mak.

 

 

 

 

“You’re moping.”

 

It’s yet another typical evening the JJCC dorm.  Sancheong is studying in his room, Simba’s on the phone with his parents, Yul’s in the shower, Zica is listening to music up on the roof, E.co’s sketching outfits at the kitchen table, and Eddy’s busy rearranging the contents of all the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen, even though it’s his night out. 

 

“I’m not.”  Eddy frowns at E.co as he checks the expiry dates of cans in a cupboard.

 

“You are.”  The eldest member doesn’t look up from his paper as he talks.  “That’s the third time you’ve moved things around on that shelf.  What are you moping about?”

 

“I’m not moping.”

 

E.co shakes his head knowingly.   “Is it because Henry went out without you?”

 

“I’m _not_ moping.”  Eddy smashes the cupboard door closed, causing E.co to jump and shank a heavy line into his drawing.  “And what do I care if he went out?”  
 

E.co sighs as he reaches for an eraser.  “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

 

“Of Henry?  Of course not.  I don’t really want to hang out with Zhou Mi…”  Eddy starts taking all the pots out of the drawer they keep them in, setting them down on the counter with perhaps a little too much strength.

 

E.co clucks his tongue.  “Look, it’s understandable…  He’s famous, tall, handsome, older, nice arms, great pecs, totally flaming gay-”

 

“What?”  Eddy drops the pan he’s holding, letting it clatter to the floor as he gapes at E.co.  “How do you know that?”

 

E.co smiles as he returns to his drawing.  “I can just tell.”

 

“Bullshit, you can’t tell just by looking at him…”  
 

“Joonyoung totally can.”  Simba laughs, walking into the room and stepping over the pot on the floor on his way to the fridge.  “He’s got like, a weird sixth sense about these kinds of things.”  
 

E.co nods as Simba grabs a banana from the fridge, peering over E.co’s shoulder at his drawings.  “It’s true, I had Youngjin pegged for the freaky voyeur he is since the first time we met.”

 

“But you like it when I watch…”  Simba grins as he slings an arm E.co’s neck.

 

“You know I do.”  E.co laughs and ruffles Simba’s hair while Eddy shudders.

 

“First of all, gross… second of all, why should I care if he’s so fucking tall and handsome and gay or whatever?”  Eddy scowls, feeling his stomach flop and twist worryingly as he tries to pick up the pot with hands that are suddenly and annoyingly shaky.

 

E.co shrugs.  “I don’t know, I’m kind of jealous that Henry could be getting some from that hot piece of man meat-”

 

“He’s not.” 

 

Simba whips out his phone as he pulls out a chair and sits beside the oldest member.  “People on Twitter keep saying that he looks like he’s Zhou Mi’s boyfriend…”

 

“He isn’t.”  Eddy tightens his grip on the pot, veins starting to protrude on his arms. 

 

Simba grins as he shows E.co something on his phone.  “Look, they’re posting pictures on Instagram!  They really do look like boyfriends!”

 

“They’re not, okay?!  Henry doesn’t even like guys!”  Eddy slams the pot down onto the counter, making E.co screw up his drawing for the second time and Simba choke on his banana while he drops his phone.

 

E.co looks at his drawing and sighs, taking off his glasses and placing them neatly on the table in front of him while Simba fishes his phone off the floor and gives Eddy a skeptical look.  “Uh… you guys have sex together, don’t you?  Are you sure he doesn’t like guys?”

 

“He doesn’t!  He says that on his stupid radio show, he says that on every single episode of Pops in Seoul we film together, he tells me that every single fucking day!  He doesn’t like guys, understand?!”  It’s only when he finishes his little outburst and sees how Simba’s staring at him like he’s gone insane and how E.co’s frowning at him does he realize that he was yelling.

 

Simba gives E.co a worried look, and E.co gestures to an empty chair at the table.  “Eddy, come sit with us.”  
 

“I’m cleaning.”

 

“Sit.”  E.co commands, pointing at the chair, and Eddy finds himself sitting across the table from the two strangely parental members against both his will and better judgement.  “So, what’s going on?”

 

Simba jumps in before Eddy can.  “You like him, don’t you?”

 

“Of course I don’t-”

 

“No, you do.  Why else would you be so upset?”  Simba says, and E.co nods beside him.

 

“I’m not up-”

 

“You are.”  E.co states, folding his hands together calmly in front of him.  “You don’t like the idea of Henry sleeping with someone else.”

 

“Holy fuck, how many times do I need to say it?  They’re not sleeping togeth-”

 

“Why don’t you sleep with someone else too?”  Simba asks, and Eddy’s eyebrows shoot up.

 

“Uh, I don’t really-”

 

Simba waggles his eyebrows at Eddy.  “Like me?  I’d love to get a taste of those thighs, and I’m _always_ available…”

 

“Please no-”

 

Simba laughs and nudges E.co in the ribs.  “Or I’m sure Joonyoung would love to…”

 

E.co looks Eddy up and down, eyes flashing and glossy lips curving into a smirk.  “With those thighs?  Of course I would.”

 

“Ew, don’t look at my legs like that…”  Eddy closes his legs tight and tries to tuck them under the table as best as he can.  “And doesn’t Hadon care at all about who you sleep with?”

 

E.co gives a reproachful glare in Eddy’s direction as Simba leans against his shoulder.  “Of course he cares.  I love him, and he knows that, and because of that we’re okay with including other peop-”

 

“You love him?”  Eddy interrupts, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.  “How do you know?”

 

Simba looks surprised by Eddy’s sudden interest in the conversation, but a small smile grows on E.co’s lips as he thinks.  “I won’t lie to you, I’ve been with a lot of people…”

 

“We already knew that.”  Simba grins, and E.co smacks him upside the head before continuing.

 

“…and… I don’t know, I guess nobody else has ever made me feel like Hadon does?”  The oldest member’s expression softens as he speaks, eyes growing uncommonly soft and gentle.  “He just makes me… happy, you know?  Really and truly happy.”

 

“Aw, that’s so sweet…”  Simba nuzzles his head into E.co’s shoulder, and E.co lets out a little embarrassed laugh as he faces Eddy again.

 

“When he’s happy, I’m happy.  And when he isn’t happy, I’d do almost anything to make him happy again.  It’s as simple as that.  I just… I just love him.”

 

There’s a pause, Eddy letting E.co’s words sink in and E.co smiling sappily to himself, then a voice from the hallway makes them all jump. 

 

“Is that true?”  Sancheong asks quietly from the doorway, wide eyes opened to their limit and a textbook clutched loosely to his chest as he gapes at his boyfriend.

 

“Yeah.”  E.co looks up shyly, voice unusually quiet.  “Of course.”

 

Sancheong flings his textbook onto the table and E.co gets to his feet and both Eddy and Simba try to grant them some privacy by finding their phones suddenly very interesting as the oldest and youngest members tuck arms around each other’s waists and Sancheong quietly murmurs “I love you too” against his boyfriend’s skin as they rock together slowly.

 

Of course, Simba can’t stop smiling as he listens to the soft sound of E.co’s lips pressing against Sancheong’s face, and Eddy doesn’t have the heart to tell them to stop because he can still hear the shower running and Zica hasn’t come down from the roof yet.  And maybe he’s a little preoccupied replacing them in his mind with himself and Prince Mak.  Because Eddy understands.  He understands everything E.co said about Sancheong.  Prince Mak makes him feel things nobody else ever has, and he would do almost anything for Prince to be happy, and fuck, his maybe-possibly-might-sort-of-be-in-love is actually a hopelessly-tragically-totally-and-completely-in-love, isn’t it?

 

“So, what were you talking about before?”  Sancheong asks as he wraps up his moment with E.co, sitting at the table and cracking his textbook open.

 

“Uh… let’s see…”  Simba scratches the back of his head as Eddy continues staring blankly at his phone (the screen’s been off the entire time).  “Uh… right!  Eddy’s jealous because Henry might be screwing Zhou Mi, and we suggested he should sleep with someone else too!”  
 

“Oh my fucking god, he’s not-”

 

“Would you have sex with Eddy?”  Simba asks Sancheong, who raises an eyebrow as he looks up from his textbook, and then down underneath the table.

 

“Mmhmm.  The thighs.  Sure.”  He nods, eyes getting dark as his textbook is forgotten in lieu of staring at Eddy’s undeniably large thighs.

 

“What’s wrong with all of you?  Stop looking at my legs!”  Eddy swears he’s never going to wear shorts around the other members again as he tries unsuccessfully to tug them down lower on his waist.

 

Simba laughs as he continues filling Sancheong in.  “…and then we both offered to take Henry’s place, but Eddy’s boring and he said no, and then Joonyoung said he loved you and Eddy asked how he knew and-”

 

“Oh shit, that’s it!”  E.co whips his head around (he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Sancheong since they sat down) to stare at Eddy.  “It’s worse than I thought!  You don’t just _like_ him… you _love_ him, don’t you?”

 

“Fuck no.”  Judging by the look the other three members give him, his denial must not be very convincing.  “I don’t!”

 

“He does know how bad he is at lying, right?”  Sancheong asks Simba, who shakes his head.

 

E.co rolls his eyes as he frowns at Eddy.  “Look at how he’s sweating, he must know…”

 

“He’s always sweaty though.”  Simba says, and Sancheong and E.co nod in agreeance.

 

Eddy indignantly wipes at his forehead with his shirt sleeve.  “I’m right here!” 

 

“Yes you are, and you’re lying.  You can’t lie to us.”  Eddy opens his mouth to protest, but E.co stares him down.  “You love him.”

 

Sancheong looks both a little disturbed and a little confused at this information.  “Wait, but if you love him, why is he out banging Zhou Mi right now?  You don’t really seem like open relationship type people…”

 

“For the last fucking time, he’s _not_ , and none of you listen, and I don’t-”

 

“Apparently he’s not…”  Simba shrugs at Sancheong, who looks even more confused.  “Apparently he doesn’t like guys.”

 

Sancheong’s eyes widen impossibly and he stares at Eddy with disbelief.  “Okay, but I’ve seen you guys having sex… so… this means what exactly?”

 

“Eddy’s just his friend with benefits.  Henry’s using him for sex.”  E.co explains, and Eddy can’t even argue with him, because he’s irritatingly right. 

 

“Oh my god, so you have sex with him and you’re in love with him but he thinks you’re just friends?”  Simba and E.co nod at Sancheong in place of Eddy.  “That’s messed up.”

 

“You should tell him.  Or at least sleep with somebody else.”  Simba nods wisely, but the effect is spoiled by the banana in his mouth.

 

Eddy has to take a deep breath to control his temper as his bandmates finally give him a chance to speak.  “Even _if_ I did love him, how could I tell him?  It would ruin everything between us, he doesn’t even like guys…”

 

“Are you sure he doesn’t like guys?”  Sancheong looks across the table at Eddy as he plays idly with E.co’s fingers in his lap.  “Maybe he’s just saying that because he doesn’t like you.”

 

Eddy frowns at the youngest member as Simba snaps his fingers at him.  “Ouch, Hadon, that’s cold…”

 

Sancheong doesn’t retract his statement, giving Eddy a look that says he thinks he’s a complete idiot.  “You do realize that you’re kind of a douche to him, right?”

 

“Excuse me?”  Eddy glares at their maknae as the older members nod beside him.

 

“It’s true, you’re mean to him, like, all the time.”  E.co agrees distractedly, squeezing at Sancheong’s hands while making overly sappy faces at him.

 

“How am I mean to him?”  Eddy kicks at the oldest member under the table to attempt to get his attention. 

 

E.co scowls at Eddy as he lets go of his boyfriend’s hands.   “For starters, you call him dumb, like, three hundred times a day.”

 

“He is dumb, though…”

 

“You hit him every time he tries to help you in the kitchen.”  Simba chimes in.

 

“He’s a culinary menace!  He shouldn’t be allowed to use knives at all!”

 

“You try to strangle him at least once per Pops in Seoul episode.”  Sancheong adds, and Eddy fights off the urge to do the same to their maknae. 

 

“If you aren’t careful, I’m going to strangle you too-”

 

Then there’s soft footsteps in the hallway and the low rumble of Zica’s voice and E.co and Sancheong put in a quick effort to sit slightly further apart. 

 

“Daehwan!  Chanyullie!”  Simba winks at the new members, Zica grinning and Yul bowing slightly and awkwardly, wet hair falling across his face as they enter the room.

 

“What’s going on here?”  Zica asks, pulling a chair out for Yul at the kitchen table and heading to the fridge after he makes sure that Yul is sitting.

 

“Nothing-” Eddy tries, but he’s ignored immediately as Simba talks right over him. 

 

“We’re talking about mean things Eddy does to Henry!”  Simba laughs as Eddy mumbles threats under his breath.

 

“I’m sure they don’t think I’m mean to-”

 

“You make fun of his accent every time he speaks.”  Zica interrupts, rummaging around for snacks in the fridge.

 

“You called him ugly on Instagram.”  Yul adds quietly, looking down at the table instead of at the other members.

 

Sancheong snorts and E.co’s shoulders start shaking violently as he tries to hold in his laughter and Simba doesn’t bother to hide his amusement at all, howling with laughter as Eddy gapes at the newest members.  Simba’s still laughing when Eddy flips him off and spends the rest of the night moping in his room, which he puts extra effort into cleaning, even going so far as to clear away Prince’s laundry and vacuum up all the cat hair on his side of the room. 

 

Not that Prince Mak notices when he gets back (indecently late, in Eddy’s opinion), sliding into his bed (freshly made by Eddy) and mumbling a few words about how Zhou Mi’s “so similar to me” and how Zhou Mi’s “bad at talking to girls too” and how they were “just meant to be best friends” because they’ll both “never get a girlfriend at this rate” before curling up under the blankets and falling asleep almost immediately, leaving Eddy awake and alone and with a painfully heavy heart. 

 

 

 

 

For someone that swears he’s not actually into guys, Prince Mak sure does eye up Eddy a lot after dance practice. 

 

Their comeback is in just a few weeks, and pretty much all of their time is spent in the dance studio these days.  Which wouldn’t really be a problem in of itself, they’re a boy band, it’s what they do.  But Eddy can feel Prince Mak’s eyes following his every move as the group sits around stretching, and it’s driving him insane.

 

Comebacks are hard enough as it is, they’ve all been worked to the bone and made over a hundred times (Prince’s hair is now a stupid bright green that drips dye everywhere whenever it gets wet and has stained all of Eddy’s sheets).  They’ve had even less sleep lately than the miniscule amount they normally get and they’re all more nervous than usual (will people like the addition of Zica and Yul?).  Eddy might be even more high-strung than he was before because he doesn’t really have a great outlet for relieving stress anymore.  He’s been trying to cut back on the amount of sex he has with his roommate, which doesn’t really work when said roommate is currently staring at him like he wants to eat him up.

 

Eddy’s beginning to regret his choice of outfit more than a little, maybe he should have worn a shirt with sleeves and sweats that didn’t cling to his thighs, and he swears he’s trying to towel sweat off his face and stretch out his legs in a manner as unsexual as possible.  Unfortunately, it seems like every movement he makes just serves to turn Prince on more (Eddy distinctly notices him pull his baggy shirt down conspicuously low over his crotch), and just that knowledge alone has Eddy sweating more than he should be. 

 

Shit, he wants Prince Mak just as much as Prince Mak evidently wants him, but it feels kind of wrong now to do anything with him.  Eddy’s clearly breaking their friends with benefits arrangement with all of his inconvenient feelings.   Damnit, he’s so frustrated and stressed and it would be a huge boon if Prince would stop staring at him for like three seconds even…

 

But distraction comes, strangely, in the form of Zica and Yul.

 

They’re just sitting on the wooden floor of the dance studio and stretching alongside the other members, but Yul seems to be teasing Zica about something.  He’s speaking in his usual soft voice, so quiet that the rest of the members can’t even make out what he’s saying to Zica beside him, but his smile is wide and his hands are animated as he prods at his roommate.

 

The rest of the members are watching the interaction between them with interest, and Eddy’s grateful for the chance to focus his attention on something else other than the way Prince Mak’s eyes are boring holes into his… thighs (are his legs really that nice?). 

 

“Yullie…”  Zica groans as Yul pokes at him, swatting his hands away.

 

Yul leans closer to his friend, mumbling something inaudible to everyone but Zica. 

 

“Yul, come on…”  Zica complains again, deep voice reverberating off the walls of the studio.

 

It almost seems like Yul is trying to get a rise out of Zica, and it’s working, Zica’s voice getting firm as Yul nudges at him again.  “Chanyul…”

 

Then Yul bends at the waist until he’s whispering something in Zica’s ear.  Whatever it was, it gets to their round-faced member.

 

“ ** _Chanyul_**.” 

 

The way he says it, low and loud and commanding, shuts Yul up immediately.  Except Yul doesn’t just stop talking, he stops moving entirely, and so does everyone else.  Even Prince Mak stops ogling Eddy’s thighs for a second to stare in shock at the sweet looking (if you try not to think about the tattoos) member.  The two new members are locked in an intense staredown, both of them refusing to lower their gaze as they look like they want to rip each other apart, jaws set and muscles tense.       

 

Simba looks just as stunned as the rest of the members (except maybe E.co, who looks more suspicious than anything else), but he tries to get some sort of control over the situation before an actual fight breaks out.  “Guys…” 

 

Zica and Yul both snap out of it at the sound of Simba’s voice, Zica’s expression reverting to his normal resting face and Yul lowering his head, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks.

 

“Is… everything okay?”  Simba sounds clearly concerned.  The new members never even really squabble amongst themselves, much less look like they’re nearly going to choke each other out.

 

“Yeah, we’re fine.”  Zica says calmly, and Yul nods beside him.  “We’re going to go get changed now, right Chanyul?”  Yul nods again, and they get to their feet and leave the studio together in silence.

 

“Okay, what in the fuck was that about?”  Sancheong asks as soon as the door to the studio closes behind them. 

 

Even Prince Mak seems to get the gist of that question, and he shrugs simultaneously with Eddy, while Simba frowns.

 

“I wonder…”  E.co mutters, causing Sancheong to turn to look at his boyfriend with curiosity painted on his face.

 

Simba’s been looking a little bit haggard lately (everyone has though), but he looks like he’s aged about twenty years at the sudden extra strife.  “I guess I’ll try to talk to them when we get back to the dorms…”

 

When they do get back, Simba knocks carefully on the door to the new members’ room, and Eddy tries so hard to avoid Prince Mak (who spent the whole van ride back trying to be subtle about how he stares at his sweaty roommate and failing miserably).  All Eddy wants to do is shower and then sleep and hopefully not interact with Prince at all (except his body is telling him that he’d actually like to interact with Prince Mak _very_ closely), but he doesn’t get his way this time either. 

 

Prince pins him against their bedroom wall while Eddy’s stripping out of his sweaty clothing.  Eddy swears that Prince was in the kitchen just seconds ago, distracted by the prospect of snacks Sancheong had brought out from his secret stash, but apparently the need for sex outweighs the longing for junk food.

 

“Eddy…”  He murmurs, one hand ghosting around the waistband of Eddy’s pants, his other hand holding Eddy’s shoulder to the wall.  His pupils are blown wide with lust as his eyes take in how Eddy’s bare chest shines with sweat, but he still looks expectantly at his roommate, looking for Eddy’s permission before they go any further.

 

And shit, Eddy really wants to say yes.  His body is aching for him to say yes, but it’s also aching for him to say _if we’re going to do this, could you maybe possibly kiss me at the same time?_ or maybe _will you actually stay with me when we’re done because it kind of feels really shitty when you leave?_ or maybe even _I think I might want to hold your dumb hand and sleep in your stupid shirts you piece of shit because I think I’m hopelessly in love with you_.  But he doesn’t say any of that, because he can’t.  Instead he goes against instinct and pushes Prince backwards gently.

 

Which he immediately regrets, because Prince Mak looks as hurt as Eddy feels. 

 

“Did I do something wrong?”  Prince asks, voice small, no hints of the lust he obviously feels audible.

 

_Yes, yes you did you dense fuck, you made me fall in love with you and you can’t ever love me back._

 

Eddy shakes his head, hands still pushing Prince backwards.  “No, I’m just… not in the mood tonight, okay?”

 

It’s a pretty obvious lie, one that Prince Mak picks up on almost immediately when he glances down at Eddy’s crotch.  “Uh, are you sure?”

 

Eddy follows his roommate’s gaze downwards and retracts his hands from Prince Mak’s shoulders to cover the unfortunately large tent in his pants.  “I’m sure.”

 

He regrets saying that too, because Prince just looks even more crushed.  “Are you sure I haven’t done something?”  He asks quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking down on the floor.  “We haven’t had sex in weeks… and it kind of seems like you don’t really want to be around me at all…”

 

Eddy was never good at seeing Prince Mak upset before, and now it’s even worse.  “It’s not you, okay?”  _It’s me, I’m the one who wants to ruin everything that we have._   “I’ve just been… uh… stressed?  Really stressed.  With the comeback and all.”

 

Prince looks up, confused.  “But that’s what I’m here for… that’s why we do this, isn’t it?  Because we’re stressed?  And friends help friends when they’re stressed, right?” 

 

That’s right, there’s no other reason, they’re just virulent young men that need an outlet.  “Right.”

 

“Then, would you come here?  Let me take care of you for once.”  Prince offers, and if he’d asked in any other way Eddy would have refused.  But that’s too much for Eddy’s weak heart, too kind, too sweet sounding, too nearly loving, and he says yes and lets Prince pull him down onto his mattress.

 

The morning after  feels about as bad to Eddy as all their morning after’s do.  Prince is already out of their room when Eddy wakes up (probably warming up the breakfast Eddy had prepared the day before), and Eddy feels gross and sore and somewhat debauched and crushingly guilty.

 

And he must look the part, because Simba comments on his appearance the second Eddy walks into the bathroom. 

 

“Fun night?”  Their leader asks, grinning widely with his toothbrush in hand, weird and lanky in pink boxers and fuzzy slippers and regrettably not much else.  His cheeky smile fades when he doesn’t get smacked or cursed at.  Eddy doesn’t do much of anything at all, absentmindedly reaching for his own toothbrush and wondering when whoever’s in the shower will be finished because maybe if he’s clean, he’ll somehow feel less remorse.  “Oh no, you haven’t told him yet, have you?”

 

Eddy shakes his head, and Simba puts a hand on his shoulder as Eddy fumbles with the toothpaste.  “Maybe you should stop having sex with him if it makes you feel this bad…”

 

Before Eddy can say anything (not that he’s really got anything to say), Sancheong pokes his head out from behind the shower curtain.  “That’s not going to happen, they like banging each other too much for that.”

 

Simba snorts at their maknae, nearly spitting toothpaste into Eddy’s hair.  “You’re one to talk!  Isn’t that right, Joonyoung?”  Joonyoung?  Eddy takes a quick glance around the tiny bathroom, it’s pretty obvious that it’s just the three of them in there, himself and Simba in front of the sink, Sancheong in the shower, there’s really no place for E.co to hide in here, unless…

 

Sancheong laughs as he withdraws his face back behind the shower curtain.  “Sorry, but Joonyoung’s mouth is a little busy right now.”

 

Simba chuckles as Eddy accidentally deepthroats his toothbrush, choking and spluttering (unfortunately probably much akin to what E.co’s doing right now). 

 

“What the fuck?”  Eddy manages to croak out as he clears some toothpaste from his airways, Simba patting his back as he coughs.  “Don’t talk to us while you’re doing that!”

 

“Youngjin likes hearing about it!”  Sancheong calls out, and Simba smiles embarrassedly, shrugging at Eddy.

 

“I don’t give a shit about what Youngjin likes!”  Eddy yells back, feeling all of his own frustration culminating alarmingly fast.  “If you two keep pulling crap like this, you’re going to get us all-” 

 

The bathroom door creaks open, Zica holding the door open for Yul who’s standing shyly behind him, and Eddy’s left to pray that Sancheong and E.co can keep quiet. 

 

Simba, strangely, doesn’t look worried for once, mouth parting into a huge toothpaste filled grin at the sight of the newest members.

 

“Chanyul!  Daehwannie!”  Simba laughs and smacks at Zica’s butt as he walks in, and Eddy raises an eyebrow because it seems like their talk last night went much better than expected.  He knows Simba wants the new members to feel comfortable around them, but he didn’t think they were quite at ass-touching levels yet. 

 

Zica just chuckles deeply and swats their leader’s hand away and Yul smiles unusually freely and easily at Simba, who tugs Eddy out of the way so the new members can use the sink.

 

“Oh, group meeting in the bathroom?”  The bathroom door opens a final time, Prince Mak’s lilting voice grating in Eddy’s ears as he weaves between all the members to get at the sink, settling in beside Eddy when he finally grabs his toothbrush.  At least Sancheong and E.co manage to somehow not give away that they’re in the shower together while everyone else goes about their morning routines, but it’s of little comfort to Eddy right now.

 

Maybe it’s dumb, but Eddy wishes Prince Mak would acknowledge him in a way a little more similar to how Simba just greeted Zica.  They spent the better part of last night tangled up in bed together, and now all he gets is a slight head nod and a smile even though he let Prince do pretty much whatever he wanted to him.

 

He probably should stop sleeping with his roommate.  It’s not even serving to relieve his stress anymore; if anything it’s just creating even more anxiety for him.  But there’s no way to explain that to Prince without hurting the both of them, and Prince is already sick and tired and lonely enough as it is. 

 

Maybe this is just another way Eddy understands that he loves him, because he’s willing to shoulder the hurt for them both if it will just make things a little bit less hard for Prince Mak.

 

 

 

 

In the end, they all get caught.  Eddy supposes it was inevitable, that it had been from the second he first agreed to give Prince Mak a handjob or the second when E.co smiled and bit his lip and agreed to go out with their maknae. 

 

It happens in much the way he had expected it to as well.

 

Eddy, Prince Mak, Simba, Zica, and Yul are all at a schedule, leaving Sancheong and E.co with some probably much appreciated time alone at the dorm.

 

And for once their schedule ends early, which should have been the first sign of impending doom.  But Eddy’s too busy dealing with his own inner turmoil to think about what their eldest and youngest could be getting up to back at the dorm, and Simba’s looking fatigued and distinctly uncheerful and he probably shouldn’t be driving them all back but he is.  Zica’s trying to give directions and Yul’s sitting quietly in backseat as usual, and Prince Mak is catching up on sleep in the seat beside Eddy.

 

The point is that nobody thinks to maybe call or text either E.co or Sancheong to inform them that they’re going to be back hours earlier than planned.

 

The second sign of impending doom should have been that traffic is unusually light.  The third would be that they don’t even hit a single red light on the way back to the dorm.  All in all, fate allows them to arrive at the dorm in a ridiculously short amount of time.

 

Zica and Yul get out first of the van first, eager to get inside where there’s a chance at food and sleep not disturbed by Simba’s lack of smooth driving.

 

“Come on bro, we’re here.”  Eddy shakes Prince Mak awake more gently than he usually would, and Prince Mak smiles up at him, eyes hazy and innocent with sleep, and Eddy swears that he could either punch him or kiss him right now for being so lovely and dumb.  He settles for dragging him out of van and pushing him in the direction of the dorm, Simba sighing and shaking his head as he waits for them to get a move on so he can lock the car. 

 

Letting the newest members enter the dorm first turns out to be a mistake.  Eddy’s still a good ways away from the door when he hears Yul’s gasp and he can see Zica freeze in shock behind him.

 

When he finally makes it into the dorm, he supposes that, in all fairness, it could have been much worse.  It’s still fatally incriminating, but at least they’re not naked or anything.

 

Eddy’s greeted with the unfortunately familiar sight of Sancheong pressing E.co up against the kitchen counter (goddamnit, not in the kitchen) with a hand shoved down his pants, and tragically, so are the new members.  Prince Mak awakens fully as he realizes the implications of the scene in front of him, and Simba slams the door to the dorm closed and draws in a sharp breath that he doesn’t seem to plan on exhaling any time soon.

 

Nobody knows quite what to do, so they all stand there frozen and staring at each other (it would be probably be tactful of Sancheong to withdraw his hand from his boyfriend’s pants, but most of the blood that should be going to his brain is otherwise occupied) until E.co gathers himself enough to say something.

 

“We thought you’d be back… later.” 

 

“Yeah… so did we.”  That’s all Simba can manage.

 

Zica’s standing stiff as a board, eyes suspicious, one of his hands sort of grabbing out for Yul as if he wants to drag him away from this crazy place.  Yul keeps shaking his head slowly, trying to divert his gaze elsewhere in the room, but his eyes keep coming back to rest on E.co and Sancheong.

 

“I don’t believe it…”  Yul says quietly, barely breaking the silence with the softness of his voice.

 

“Uh… we can explain?” Sancheong offers up, finally pulling his hand away from E.co’s genitals.

 

This thought, this stupid last ditch hope that they can somehow make things okay again when they obviously never will be might just be what causes Eddy to snap, months of frustration and hurt and worry all spilling out in the form of pure rage.  “You can explain this?!  Please, go right fucking ahead and try!” 

 

Sancheong flinches at the anger in Eddy’s voice and E.co glares at him as he zips up his ridiculously tight jeans.  “Don’t yell at him like that, it’s not his fault.”

 

“Then whose fault is it?!”  Even Prince Mak jumps at how loudly Eddy’s shouting.  He can barely understand a word of what’s being said, and he tugs at Eddy’s shirt sleeve in a futile attempt to calm him down.

 

Zica tries to get a word in, unsuccessfully.  “Hey, we-”

 

“It’s yours!  I knew you were going to get us all caught!  Why couldn’t you assholes keep it in your own room, at least?”  Eddy yells over Zica, causing E.co to draw himself up to his full height, looming down over Eddy with a scowl.

 

“Are you really going to yell at your hyung like that?”  He asks, anger present in his voice that he usually only reserves for instigating rough sex with Sancheong.

 

Zica tries again, this time reaching for Simba’s arm to try to get his attention.  “Guys, we-”

 

“I don’t give a fuck if you are my hyung!  A good hyung would make sure he didn’t get caught!”  Eddy gets up in E.co’s face, not caring if the oldest member is a huge number of inches taller than him or if his nails are long and manicured and dangerous looking.

 

“Guys, please…”  Simba’s voice is shaky and pleading, like he’s about to suffer a meltdown at any second and he really just needs everyone to shut up before he starts crying.

 

“Joonyoung’s a better hyung than you, at least!  He’s not the one making a huge deal about this!”  Sancheong steps up to defend his boyfriend, putting a protective arm around his waist and curling his free hand into a fist.

 

“How is this not a big deal?!  Did you want them to know that everyone here is sleeping with each other?”  Yul’s mouth drops open at the mention of “everyone”, and Zica’s eyebrows fly up his forehead and into his bowl cut as he glances at all the upset faces around him.

 

He also tries one last time to say something, but he’s never given the chance.  “Listen, we don’t-”

 

“Shut up, Daehwan!”  Eddy yells at him, causing Yul to wince and Zica holds up his hands and walks away from the rest of the members as Eddy directs his anger back at E.co and Sancheong.  “Are you both happy?  Is this what you wanted them to know?  Did you want them to know that you two are screwing each other and that Youngjin likes to watch and that I’m in love with Henry and that-”

 

“What?”  Prince Mak interrupts, voice shrill.  “You’re in love with me?”

 

E.co gasps and Simba brings a hand to his mouth and Sancheong fists uncurl and Zica’s eyebrow somehow rise even higher (noticeable even though he’s now standing a little ways away from the rest of the commotion) as Yul’s eyes widen to their limits.

 

Of course that would be one of the few phrases that Prince knows in Korean.  Eddy feels all the anger in his body dissipate immediately, only to be replaced with overwhelming fear and nausea.

 

“Shit.  Wait, Henry, no, that’s not what I meant…” 

 

Prince Mak lets go of Eddy’s shirt and backs away from him slowly, shaking his head in disbelief. 

 

“Henry, I-”

 

“No, no, no… you said we were just friends…”  Prince keeps walking backwards until he bumps into the front door to their dorm, and he feels for the door handle while looking at Eddy like he’s hoping this is all some sick joke and Eddy’s going to laugh and smack him in the head and everything will be back to normal.  But Eddy just stands there, at a loss for words now that his worst fears are currently being realized.

 

“I really didn’t mean-” He reaches out for Prince’s arm, and Prince Mak jolts at his touch and pushes him away so hard he stumbles and falls backwards into E.co.  He finally finds the door handle and starts to turn it as Eddy struggles to get to his feet.  “Henry, no, please don’t go-”

 

Prince Mak turns to stare him dead in the eyes as he opens the door, and Eddy wishes that he could somehow die on the spot when he sees the look of sheer disgust on Prince’s face.    

 

“Fuck you, Eddy.”  He says as he slams the door shut, and he’s gone, and Eddy’s heart breaks.

 

 


	5. in another lifetime, I'd still think you're an idiot (but I'd also still be in love with you)

“Okay, everybody else stay here.”

 

Everyone’s been standing around in complete silence for quite some time, and Eddy’s too crushed to really take in what the other members look like.  But it’s dead quiet in the dorm beyond the faint sounds of the fridge whirring and dog paws clacking on the cheap flooring and rain starting to patter on the windows, so it’s safe to assume that everyone’s doing exactly what Eddy’s doing: staring at the recently slammed door in shock.  

 

Simba’s the first one to pull himself together.  “I’m going to go after him.  Please, promise me none of the rest of you will leave while I’m gone…”  
 

Surprisingly enough, everyone nods, even Zica and Yul standing in the background.  Simba takes one quick parting glance at Eddy, looks like he wants to cry, and then flies out the door, long legs moving his tired body in clumsy uneven strides.

 

It’s quiet again when he’s gone.  Eddy doesn’t even really register the thin arms that wrap around his waist or the defined chin that digs into his shoulder, he just lets himself be pulled into a tight hug by their oldest member.

 

“Eddy, I’m so sorry…”  E.co whispers, bending his neck awkwardly so he can rest his face in the crook of Eddy’s neck, bony fingers jabbing into his back as Sancheong guides the pair of them towards the old couch. 

 

Eddy can’t even find it within himself to protest the seating arrangement (he still refuses to sit on the old couch) as E.co keeps his arms wrapped tight around Eddy’s waist even while sitting and Sancheong curls up to him on his opposite side, breaking his usual cool character as he rests his head on Eddy’s shoulder and tucks an behind his neck.

 

Normally Eddy would be pretty uncomfortable with being nestled between two of his bandmates like this, but he hardly notices how the thin members fit around him, hardly feels how E.co’s long fingers stroke at his hair or how Sancheong’s trying to rub consoling circles into his back. 

 

All he can think about is how disgusted Prince Mak looked as he slammed the door in his face. 

 

“I didn’t think he’d leave…”  Eddy murmurs, more to himself than the two members currently holding him.  “…he hates me, doesn’t he?” 

 

E.co shakes his head, hair brushing against Eddy’s neck.  “Of course he doesn’t…”

 

“No, he does.  He hates me, and he’s not going to come back…” 

 

“He’ll come back.”  Sancheong says quietly, voice low and solemn and measured.  “Youngjin will find him, and he’ll come back.”

 

Even if Sancheong does sound dead serious, it’s not true.  Maybe he’s trying to convince himself, but it’s just not true.  Eddy notices the look E.co and Sancheong exchange around him, and he should probably be grateful that they aren’t upset with him anymore, but all he feels is regret.  He should never have said anything.  He should have suffered in silence.  He knows that Prince isn’t coming back.

 

This is confirmed when Simba shows up much later, alone, water dripping from his coat and cuffs of his jeans damp. 

 

“Any luck?”  Zica asks, making Eddy jump a little at the close proximity of his deep-pitched words.  He wasn’t even aware that Zica and Yul were still in the same room with the rest of them.  Apparently they’d just been sitting quietly at the kitchen table, waiting alongside the other three members for their leader’s return. 

 

Simba gives the scene on the couch a quick onceover and seems visibly relieved that Eddy’s being comforted by both the youngest and eldest members instead of currently ripping their throats out.  “Uh… no…”  He says slowly, shaking rain from his jacket and kicking off his soaked shoes.   “I even asked some of the people who work at the stores near here if they’d seen him… you know, with the green hair and all I figured somebody might remember him… but nothing… nobody’s seen him at all…”

 

Eddy knew it.  If Prince Mak isn’t in the area (he’s allowed to go to the convenience stores and little restaurants near their dorms on his own, and that’s about it), there’s no telling where he could be.  And if they don’t know where he is, there’s not much chance of getting him back. 

 

“He will come back, right?”  Yul asks from the kitchen table, his soft voice full of doubt.

 

There’s a momentary pause, their leader struggling to plaster his usual big smile on his usually goofy face.  “Yeah… he will.  Don’t worry, he will.”

 

The sheer effort it takes to make that smile, the way Simba’s bottom lip wobbles as he fights to hold it together and remain calm like a leader should somehow hurts Eddy even more, even though he thought he’d reached his maximum amount of emotional distress when Prince Mak looked at him with nothing but hatred.  But it does hurt, and suddenly he feels hot and suffocated with Sancheong’s head on his chest and E.co’s hair tickling his throat and the way Simba looks at him and the fact that Zica and Yul seem to be determined to watch the end of their group unfold with them, and he somehow untangles himself from E.co’s scrawny arms and the maknae’s firm grip.

 

“Hey, Eddy, don’t…”  E.co tries as Eddy gets to his feet and Simba sinks down into his usual chair, turning on the television and trying to maintain some illusion of normalcy, as if this is just a usual night in the dorm and Prince Mak’s just having a night out and that he isn’t missing and doesn’t hate his roommate and Eddy hasn’t blown all of their covers.

 

Simba looks over at Eddy, taking out his phone and passing the remote wordlessly to Sancheong, who flips through channels almost immediately.  “Stay here, won’t you?”  Simba asks, not quite pleading, but looking as though he might get ready to.  “I’m going to try calling him, and I need you to tell me what he says…”

 

So Eddy sits back down, this time tucking his knees to his chest and curling in on himself so Sancheong and E.co can’t get close while Simba takes a deep breath as looks through his contacts for Prince Mak’s number.  He cranks the volume on his phone, like he always does when he needs to talk to Prince so Eddy can listen, but all the members get to hear is one jarring ring before the call goes directly to voicemail.

 

“His phone’s off…”  Simba’s voice is dull as he tries a few more times, hitting redial with stubborn hope.

 

E.co’s eyes follow their leader’s every movement.  “He just needs some time, don’t worry…”

 

Simba nods carefully, repeating E.co’s words to himself as Eddy’s heart somehow sinks even further in his chest.  They don’t have time.  Their comeback is in just a few days.  If they don’t get Prince Mak back soon, that’s going to be the end.

 

Everyone tries to act like everything is normal, like they’re all just exhausted and all they’re up for is watching television lazily, even if Prince Mak’s not there and Zica and Yul are still sitting at the table as if they’re unsure whether or not they’re allowed to join the other members in the living room. 

 

As the hours tick by excruciatingly slowly with no word from Prince Mak at all, things start to deteriorate even further.  Sancheong won’t stop changing the channel and Eddy doesn’t say a word and just watches colors flash by on the screen in front of him and E.co won’t stop fidgeting and biting at his nails.  Simba might be the worst of them all, forcing laughs at things that clearly aren’t funny, checking the time on his phone every couple of minutes, even trying to make a few jokes that fall completely flat and hang awkwardly in the oppressively quiet room.

 

When Simba’s phone finally rings (with the ringer on full volume) it startles him so badly that he nearly falls out of his chair and E.co chews off half of a nail and Sancheong drops the remote that he’s been gripping like a lifeline and Zica and Yul stand simultaneously in the kitchen, scratching the feet of their chairs on the floor, and Eddy swears his heart stops.

 

Simba scrambles to answer the call, but his face falls at the number displayed on the screen and he holds the phone to his ear.  “Hello?  Yes… yeah… okay, no, no… we’re all fine, yes, we’ll all be there tomorrow… for sure… okay, okay, bye, thank you…”

 

As soon as he hangs up, he starts frantically dialling Prince Mak, eyes wild as he keeps getting sent straight to voicemail.  “Henry… Henry… come on, Henry, pick up… turn on your phone…”

 

E.co gets to his feet, sensing an impending meltdown.  “Youngjin, you’ve got to calm down…” 

 

“Calm down?  You want me to calm down?!”  Everyone flinches at the hostility in Simba’s voice.  They’ve never seen their leader, their silly, weird, hopelessly childish and naïve leader so upset.  Even in the early days when the members would fight (sometimes violently), Simba was always a mediator, impossible to anger with his unshakeable happy-go-lucky attitude. 

 

And now Eddy’s messed up that too, and he baulks and curls in on himself even tighter when Simba throws his phone across the room.  “We are done if we don’t get Henry back!  Done!  Finished!”

 

“Youngjin, he’s going to come back…”  The oldest member tries to rub soothingly at their lanky leader’s shoulders, and gets shoved back roughly for his efforts.

 

“Are you kidding me?  We have no idea where he is!  He’s probably lost, wandering the streets in the pouring rain, probably getting mugged… He won’t turn his phone on, and we all know he won’t want to talk to Eddy even if he does!”  Simba’s hands fly up into his previously neatly straightened bangs.  “Fuck!  This is a basic rule!  Eddy’s always supposed to know where he is!  I can’t believe we let him go!”

 

Everyone’s at a loss for words as Simba turns to direct his anger at Eddy, still pathetically hugging his knees on the couch.  “We have rules for a reason!  So we don’t lose each other!  And look at what you did!  You lost Henry!”

 

“Youngjin, come on, it wasn’t really his fault…”  Sancheong speaks up on Eddy’s behalf, starting to rise up off the couch but sinking back down into the cushions as Simba directs an absolutely scathing look that they weren’t even aware he could make at their youngest. 

 

“No, it was!  It was both of your faults’, both you and Henry!”  Simba’s starting to tear at his hair, deep booming voice causing Yul to cower close into Zica as they stand behind the couch.  “What is wrong with the both of you?  You’re supposed to be the adults here, but you act like children when it comes to feelings!  Why couldn’t you have worked this out on your own, like adults?  Now Henry’s gone, and if we don’t find him before management finds out he’s missing, we can kiss this stupid group goodbye!” 

 

“Youngjin, I really didn’t mean for this to happen…”  Eddy’s voice cracks as he tries futilely to somehow make Simba turn back into the leader they all know and sometimes begrudgingly love.

 

“I don’t care what you meant!  Unless it makes Henry come back here, tonight, I don’t care!”

 

“Youngjin, I’m sorry…” 

 

“Being sorry isn’t going to bring Henry back!”  Simba’s reached his limits, voice the loudest they’ve ever heard it and face flushed with anger, and he storms off down the hallway, slamming the door to his room behind him with such force that it shakes everything in the dorm and knocks their framed picture of Jackie Chan over, glass shattering on the cheap flooring of the living room.

 

E.co sucks in a deep breath, running his long fingers through his hair as he fishes Simba’s now dented phone off the floor.  “I’ll go try to talk to him.”

 

The remaining members can hear E.co repeating Simba’s name soothingly as he knocks quietly on his door, and Sancheong gets up to start sweeping up the shards from the frame, gingerly separating the picture from the broken glass.  When he holds the photo up to the light, staring at it with eyes that are unusually wet, Eddy knows he can’t be in the room anymore. 

 

He considers going to his own room, crawling under the covers and pretending none of this ever happened, but everything smells like Prince Mak and his blankets are still all stained from Prince’s green hair, and he ends up locking himself in the bathroom instead.

 

He stays there for as long as he can, sinking to the floor and refusing to let the hot tears that spring up in his eyes fall, listening to the rain, the quiet and nearby lilt of E.co trying to sweet-talk their leader back into being their leader, the distant and indistinguishable rumble of Zica’s voice as he presumably talks to Yul. 

 

He’s so, so stupid. 

 

But even if he is stupid, couldn’t Prince Mak have rejected him a bit more politely?  Did he really have to leave?  Is Eddy really that disgusting?

 

Except Eddy’s not even allowed to wallow in self-loathing in peace.

 

“Okay, I know you’re probably like, crying or something, and this is really insensitive…”  Sancheong’s voice is flat and muffled as he knocks on the door to the bathroom.  “…but this is the only bathroom, and I really need to pee, so could you maybe get out?”  
 

Sancheong shrugs an apology at Eddy as he opens the door to the bathroom, and then the door closes behind him and Eddy’s running out of places to go.  He’s not going to leave like Prince Mak did, he doesn’t want Simba to completely lose it if he hasn’t already. 

 

He ends up settling for the roof.

 

It’s a really bad idea, it’s dark and cold and pouring rain, but Eddy welcomes it.  He doesn’t even try to find shelter, doesn’t even pull up his hood, just leans up against the railing and lets the rain fall across his face and soak his hair and his clothes until he’s as miserable looking as he feels.

 

There’s nothing to do but stand there, it’s raining hard enough that he can’t see anything beyond the blurred colors of city lights, and water trickles down his forehead and into his burning eyes (he’s not crying, he’s not) and he still can’t think about anything beyond Prince Mak staring at him like he’s the most repulsive person he’s ever met.

 

It’s all he sees in front of him, Prince’s eyebrows knitted in anger, his mouth curved into a scowl, eyes flashing with anger, and he doesn’t feel the rain pounding down on him or the wind cutting through his damp clothes or the way his teeth are chattering in his mouth, all he feels is Prince’s hands pushing him backwards with hatred, can’t hear anything beyond his parting words and the sound of the door being slammed again and again.

 

Those images become bizarrely juxtaposed with other memories as Eddy’s body becomes colder and damper. 

 

Prince making fun of his dancing, Prince clapping for him when he shows off some particularly fancy looking martial arts move, Prince clearly impressed while watching him cook, Prince laughing beside him at stupid videos on his laptop as they lay together on Eddy’s bed, Prince smiling up at him when Eddy offers to help him up off the dance studio floor.

 

Their first time.  Prince linking their hands together, Prince hot and wanting on top of him, Prince’s lips locked together with his like he would never let them be parted again.  Prince snoring on his shoulder, his hair falling across his face, his hands loosely resting on Eddy’s waist.

 

How can he do all of this?  How can he smile and laugh and fuck and tease and clearly want in at least some ways and then just leave?

 

Eddy’s too wrapped up in his thoughts to turn around when he hears the door to the roof open behind him.  There’s a ninety-nine percent chance that it’s just E.co coming to yell at him for being stupid and to tell him to come in out of the rain.

 

Which is why he jumps when someone nudges him gently.

 

“Hey.” 

 

It’s Yul, hood pulled up tight around his blond hair, thin body already starting to shake from the cold and wet.  He smiles timidly as he joins Eddy at the railing, copying Eddy’s posture as he leans his elbows on the edge and stands close enough that their shoulders touch (sort of, Yul’s so much taller so it’s more like an Eddy’s shoulder to Yul’s bicep type thing).

 

Eddy’s not sure what he’s here for.  Now that he thinks about it, he’s never really been truly alone with quiet member, so he says nothing and waits for some sort of explanation.

 

“Daehwan… uhm… comes up here sometimes… to think and stuff…”  This is all Yul offers up as a reason for being up here in the pouring rain, pausing awkwardly between words and making a few stunted hand gestures as if they can help explain why he’s here (they don’t).

 

He doesn’t say anything else, just leans there with Eddy, staring out at the rain and the blurred lights until he’s completely soaked too.  Eddy can feel him shivering where their arms are touching and can just barely hear his teeth clacking together over the sound of the rain pounding on the concrete of the roof.

 

Eddy decides to break the strange silence between them when Yul’s trembling becomes violent and he starts wiping rain out of his eyes.  “You should go back inside.”  Yul shakes his head, and Eddy finally turns to look at him instead of staring blankly out at the horizon.  “You’re freezing.”

 

“I’d rather stay out here.”  Yul says simply, still gazing out at the city.

 

Eddy sighs, figuring it’s probably time to get to the point before Yul freezes to death and he’s responsible for them losing another member.  “Chanyul, what are you here for?”

 

Yul shrugs slightly, bony shoulders rising and falling.  “You said you love Henry.” 

 

He says it plainly, offers no judgement, no disgust, no hatred, no fear, just like he’s stating a simple fact. Eddy takes a deep breath before giving, for once, a completely honest answer.  “Yeah, I think I do.”

 

Yul nods thoughtfully, and his lips move slowly and tentatively, as if he’s not really sure he should say what he says next.  “You know… when our… Daehwan’s and mine, I mean… when our last group was disbanded, it felt like I’d lost everything.”

 

Eddy’s eyes widen (unfortunately causing more water to drip down from his hair into his eyes) as Yul smiles sadly to himself.  Yul and Zica might mention A.T.O once in a while, but they’ve never really said anything about the disbandment itself.  “…I… I couldn’t talk to anyone about it… not my friends from before, not the people I met when we were training, not even my family…”

 

Yul stops for a second and wipes damp hair from his face before continuing.  “Everyone saw me as such a failure… they all said I was stupid for taking this chance, that I was stupid for thinking I could ever be an idol, that I never should have even tried.”

 

Then Yul pauses and turns to face Eddy, a tiny smile growing on his face even though his bleached bangs keep falling into his eyes.  “Except Daehwan.”   

 

His little smile grows as he continues.  “When we were disbanded, he was my only friend.  He was the only person there for me, the only person who didn’t see me as a failure… and I was so scared that I’d lose him too, if…” 

 

Eddy doesn’t get a chance to ask what _if_ is before Yul gathers himself and looks up shyly to meet Eddy’s stunned gaze.  “But you don’t lose people because of that… Not if you really… you get through things together.  You make it through hard times because of each other.  I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for him.”

 

Eddy doesn’t know what to say, can’t tell if Yul entirely understands exactly what kind of love he has for Prince Mak.  “I’m not sure if that’s…”

 

“Yul?  Chanyul?”  The door to the roof swings open, and Zica’s low voice interrupts Eddy before he can finish his thought. 

 

“Chanyul?”  Zica asks again from the doorway, peering out across the rooftop, opening an umbrella and stepping out into the rain when he spies Eddy and Yul at the railing.  “Chanyul.”

 

“Daehwan.”  Yul turns around at the sound of his name, smiling as Zica approaches them, and in that moment Eddy knows that Yul understands.  Because Yul smiles at Zica like Sancheong smiles at E.co, and Zica smiles back at him like E.co always smiles back at Sancheong. 

 

“I think it’s a bit late for that for us…”  Yul grins and gestures at the umbrella as Zica cozies up to Eddy, pressing their shoulders together and mirroring Yul. 

 

“It’s the thought that counts.  And it’s not my fault neither of you are smart enough to stay out of the rain.”  Zica chuckles deeply as he holds the umbrella over the three of them, nudging Eddy with his elbow as he does.  “Speaking of which, why are you up here?  Why aren’t you out looking for Henry?” 

 

Eddy shakes his head slowly as he’s hit with a second wave of regret, having nearly momentarily forgotten about Prince Mak while he was caught up in watching their new members smile at each other.  “How can I?  Youngjin will flip out even worse if I leave…”

 

Zica nudges Eddy again, a little less gently this time. “Since when do you listen to Youngjin?  And Joonyoung-hyung actually managed to get him to calm down a bit.” 

 

“Even so… how would I know where to find him?  His sense of direction is shit, he can barely read anything, he’s always getting lost…”

 

“You know him better than anyone… don’t you have any ideas?”  Yul asks softly, voice barely audible over the sound of the rain thudding on the umbrella.

 

Where would Prince Mak even go if he was upset, if he wanted to be alone?  If he wanted to get away from Eddy, away from all of them…

 

And just like that, Eddy knows where he is.  Hopefully.  If he didn’t get lost on his way there.

 

But knowing where he might be doesn’t really help.  “It doesn’t matter if we can find him… why would he even want to come back?  He won’t want to… he hates me…”  
 

Yul bites at his bottom lip as Zica shakes his head at Eddy.  “I don’t think he really hates you.”

 

Eddy knows that they’re just trying to make him feel better, but it’s not really working. 

 

“I think he might just be scared…”  Yul adds gently, and Zica nods along with him, shaking the umbrella and accidentally dumping water on Eddy’s head (and that’s how they know Eddy’s got it really bad, because he doesn’t even seem to notice).

 

“What is there for him to be scared of?”  Eddy asks so quietly he’s not even sure if Zica and Yul can hear him as the wind starts to pick up and blows rain right into his face.

 

Zica shrugs, steadying the umbrella with strong hands.  “Lots of things, probably.  But you won’t know what those things are unless you find him.”

 

“Which you should.”  Yul’s voice is unusually firm, still soft as always, but firm as he looks across Eddy and over at Zica, who smiles so brightly at Yul that his eyes curve into crescent-moons and Yul can’t seem to help beaming right back at him.  “If you love him, you should go get him.”  
 

“Chanyul…”  Zica murmurs as he stares at Yul and for a second Eddy’s forgotten, just an outsider looking in at two people in their own private little world. 

 

Yul’s shaking doesn’t seem like it’s entirely from the cold now and Zica’s eyes look suspiciously damp even though he’s been under the umbrella the entire time.  Eddy kind of gets the feeling that they may have been through something very similar to this awful night before, and he can’t even bring himself to not blatantly watch them (although he is awkwardly stuck between the two of them) because this is everything he wants and is willing to give.  He just wants Prince Mak to look at him like Zica looks at Yul, like he’s wonderful and loved and special and he makes him so simply happy, and he wants to be able to look back at Prince like Yul looks back at Zica, like he makes him happier than anybody else ever could and like he’s so damn important to him and he’s so overwhelmingly happy that he can admit it to him.

 

The spell is broken when Yul starts reaching out for Zica, hand moving shakily and slowly as if in a trance, and he accidentally brushes Eddy’s arm and Eddy jumps at the sudden contact.  Zica smiles sheepishly and even though Yul must be near hypothermic there’s a faint touch of heat spreading across his cheeks as Eddy’s lips curve upwards ever so slightly in spite of everything.

 

“So are you guys…?”  He asks slowly, his tiny smile growing as Yul’s cheeks burn brighter.

 

“W-what we are isn’t important right now!”  Yul’s teeth chatter as he pokes Eddy in the shoulder and Zica tugs on Eddy’s wet shirt sleeve in hopes of leading them all away from the railing and back towards the door.  “You are!”

 

Zica nods as he pulls Eddy towards the door and Yul (who at some point linked a bony elbow under Eddy’s arm) along with him.  “Yeah, what are you going to do?  Are you going to go after him?”

 

Yul looks at Eddy so expectantly and Zica slides his hand down from Eddy’s sleeve to press supportively into his back.

 

If Eddy learned anything at all from the two of them, he knows he should.  “Yeah, I’ll go after him.”  And Eddy actually smiles (a weird surprised smile, but a smile nonetheless) when Zica leans his head on Eddy’s shoulder and tightens an arm around his waist to pull him into a side-hug while Yul awkwardly tries to do the same and they all stand there and share a strange but nice soggy embrace.

 

“G-good, c-can we f-finally go inside then?”  Yul barely manages to chatter out, and Zica smiles, round cheeks rising and puffing outwards as he opens the door to the roof and guides them all inside. 

 

“Dry clothes for you both, and then we’ll go get our dumb crybaby of a leader.”  Normally Eddy wouldn’t let himself be ordered around by Zica, but beyond having some newfound respect for their most recent additions, the second they make it back into the dorm Simba flies to the door and squeezes Eddy so tight that he knocks the air out of his lungs and actually lifts him up off the ground.

 

“E-E-Eddy!”  Simba literally sobs out Eddy’s name as Eddy struggles both to breathe and to touch his feet to the floor as their idiotic leader hauls him up into the air.

 

“Youngjin, holy shit…”  Eddy can barely wheeze as Simba’s lanky arms seem to be determined to crush his ribcage and he can feel hot tears start to soak into his already dripping shirt.  “…put me down…”

 

“Is he normally like this in a crisis?”  Zica asks Sancheong and E.co, who are standing nearby and watching the scene with a mixture of amusement and complete doneness.

 

E.co shrugs and Sancheong rolls his eyes as Eddy tries to kick at Simba’s shins. 

 

“He can be… emotional… at times.”  E.co explains, and it’s true.  While Simba doesn’t really do angry, he’s literally always the first (and usually only) to cry at any sad scenes in any movies or when he’s reading a sad book or when he hears a sad song on the radio or…

 

“I am so, so, so sorry!  I never should have yelled at you!”  Simba continues bawling into Eddy’s shirt as Eddy twists in his grip.

 

“Oh my god, it’s fine, just put me down!”

 

“I just wanted to be a good leader!  We have all these s-stupid rules so we all stick together and we fell apart anyways and I’m such an idiot and such a bad leader and-”

 

Yul mouths something that looks like “ridiculous” to Zica who just sighs and shakes his head while Eddy delivers a particularly hard kick to right below Simba’s knee, but Simba’s doesn’t even seem to notice.

 

“Yes, you are an idiot!  No, you’re not a bad leader!  Put me down!”

 

Simba starts really bawling when Eddy tells him what he thinks of his leadership skills.  “N-no, I am, I am!  It’s my job to make sure you all are happy and I can’t even do that!  Both you and Henry have been so unhappy and-”

 

“And it was our faults!  You’re right, we were acting like children-”

  
“Yes, you were.”  Sancheong deadpans in the background, and Zica murmurs something about how it can’t be good when the maknae is telling people that they’re being childish while E.co barely holds in a snicker.

 

“-and I want to try to fix it!  If I can!  I think I know where Henry is, so if you’d put me the fuck down…”

 

Simba stops crying and drops Eddy unceremoniously to the floor all at once.  “You know where Henry is?  Really?”

 

“Yeah!  At least… I hope so…”  Eddy gets to his feet and wipes dust pointedly off his pants while only managing a half-hearted glare at their towering leader.  “You know how he is with getting lost and all, I can’t guarantee he’ll be there…”

 

“Well then, what are we waiting for, let’s go!”  Simba dries his tears and snot on the sleeve of his jacket as he rushes to throw on some shoes and find his car keys.  “If there’s a chance, we have to take it!”

 

Zica and Yul nod encouragingly at Eddy while Sancheong pushes him towards the door and E.co pulls him back inside.

 

“Dry clothes for Eddy first!  Do you want him to get sick?”  E.co tugs with distaste at Eddy’s wet sweater as Simba shakes his head.

 

“No time!  I’ll turn on the heat on the car, they’ll dry.”  Their oldest member puts up his hands and lets out an exasperated sigh as he shakes his head at their leader, but there’s a fond smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he lets Eddy be pushed back towards the door.  “Okay kids, Joonyoung’s in charge until we get back!  If anyone calls, lie to them and tell them we’re all here, won’t you?” 

 

This is met with more nods and Yul gives Eddy an awkward thumbs-up and Zica tells him to “go get him!” and Sancheong gives him a look that says he better fucking get him and E.co hugs both Simba and Eddy before they leave. 

 

“Please, please bring him back…”  The eldest whispers in Eddy’s ear as he leans down for the hug, a rare moment of vulnerability, and all Eddy can do is whisper that he’ll try.  He feels like everyone’s being way too optimistic about his chances of actually finding Prince Mak, but he supposes that this hope is the only thing that’s keeping everyone together right now.

 

He knows that they were much too enthused when Eddy stares out the car window as he gives Simba directions and hardly sees a single person outside, and the few he does are all carrying umbrellas.  He’s really got to bank on the hope that Prince Mak is just as dumb as he is and would rather wallow in emotion in the dark and wet and cold rather than comfortably inside somewhere.

 

“Here?  Why here?”  Simba asks, confused when Eddy tells him to pull over in the heart of downtown.

 

“We went here once and… and you know what, just trust me, okay?”

 

“But here?  In the rain?”  Simba looks doubtful, but he also looks at Eddy’s wet clothing and seems to understand.

 

“Wait here, okay?  I’m just going to take a look…”  Simba nods as Eddy opens the car door and heads down into the many paths of Cheonggyecheon Stream.

 

It seems like it’s raining even harder here than it was at the dorm, if that’s even possible.  Eddy can hardly see the path in front of him, much less tell if there’s any wayward Australian dumbasses hanging about.  And the wind is so sharp that he may as well not be wearing any clothes with the way it tears through his sweater and he ends up feeling even more soaked than he did back on the roof in just seconds.

 

He walks for what feels like hours and doesn’t see a single person.  All he sees is the choppy water of the river and the wet dirt of the riverbank and slippery concrete and the tips of his sopping red bangs that he has to keep pushing out of his eyes and sheet upon sheet of rain.

 

This was such a stupid idea.

 

Why the shit would Prince Mak be out here?  Even if he didn’t make it here because he got lost, he’s surely somewhere that’s warm and dry.  It’s freezing and pouring and almost pitch black because the city lights are obscured by the rain and only a complete idiot would be out here and…

 

…and Prince Mak is a complete idiot.

 

Eddy swears he must be miles away from Simba and is considering turning back when he sees somebody (the first person he’s seen in the entire time he’s been outside) huddled on the riverbank.  Somebody with dirty shoes and mud splattered pants and a shirt that looks like someone spilled an apple martini all over it and cradling a head full of dripping green hair in their arms.

 

Prince Mak.  Prince.  Henry.

 

“Henry.”  Eddy breathes out, heart thumping wildly in his chest as he almost runs over to where Prince Mak is.  Almost.  “Henry!”

 

Prince Mak doesn’t even look up at the sound of his name, and he doesn’t give Eddy a second glance when he sits down cautiously (and begrudgingly, Prince Mak is the only asshole he’d ever willingly sit in the mud for) beside him.

 

“Henry…”  Eddy tries quietly, sitting so Prince is still given a wide berth but close enough so he could reach and just barely touch him if he really wanted to.  And he does want.

 

But he doesn’t do, because Prince Mak sits silently and ignores Eddy as he stares out at the stream. 

 

They sit like that for a long while.  Eddy thinks it must be a good sign that Prince hasn’t up and left, hasn’t just run away at the sight of him or tried to push him into the river (Eddy feels so awful that he probably wouldn’t even fight him if he did try), but Prince also doesn’t look any less upset with him even though he’s been gone for hours.

 

It almost seems like they’re in a scene from some sort of cheesy romantic drama, the kind where the girl runs away and the guy chases after her to try to convince her that he loves her and they get back together in some big dramatic emotional heartfelt reveal.  Except people in cheesy romantic dramas don’t sit in the mud or freeze to death or ever look quite as convincingly miserable and angry as Prince Mak does right now.

 

Prince Mak kicks at the grass and the mud with his soiled Converse and Eddy notices how pale and shaky his hands look and how prominent the goosebumps on his forearms are where his shirt sleeves have ridden up and he tries again.  “Henry, I-”

 

“How long has it been?”  Prince Mak’s voice is quiet, but acidic, slicing through the night air and burning at Eddy’s ears.  “How long have you been lying to me?”

 

Lying?  That’s what Prince is so angry about?  “Henry, I never meant to lie-”

 

“I thought you were my friend!”  Prince turns to face him and is suddenly shouting, loud even over the constant noise of the pouring rain.  “But you lied to me!  What kind of friend are you?!”

 

“The kind of friend who knew you’d act like this if…”  Eddy’s not sure what’s up with his voice, it’s coming out weird and cracked and pathetically small.  “…if I told you how I felt.”

 

This confession, this true, out loud, verbal admittance just seems to make Prince Mak even angrier.  “How am I supposed to act?!  We agreed to be just friends!”

 

And damnit, if there’s ever been anyone who was good at making Eddy angry really fast, it’s definitely Prince Mak.

 

“Look, I never asked for this!”  Eddy’s voice starts rising of its own accord as he feels his blood boil even though he’s chilled to the bone, because his heart has been stomped on just one too many times.  “It’s not like I ever wanted to fall in love with your stupid laugh or your dumb fucking accent or the way you smile at me or anything about you!  But I did, okay?  I did!  And I didn’t know what to do about it and I knew you wouldn’t feel the same way about me so I lied!”

 

Prince Mak tries to get a word in but Eddy’s steadily approaching his second breaking point of the day.  “I lied!  I lied!  I tried to spend less time with you, I tried to not get close to you, I tried to stop messing around with you!  But when I did all that, you acted so fucking hurt and I never wanted to hurt you, okay?!  I just wanted you to be happy, so I lied!”  

 

“That doesn’t make it-”  Prince Mak’s furious expression changes to one of horror as Eddy really snaps, unable to stop spilling out all the thoughts he’s kept hidden now that he’s started.

 

“No, Henry, shut up for a second!  You have just shit all over my feelings for so long now!  I know we agreed to just be friends, but am I really that awful?!  How can you flirt with girls at work when I’m right there?  How can you introduce me to chicks with a straight face?  How can you not even want to touch me when we fuck?  How can you look at me like I’m shit just because I love you?  Am I really so disgusting?  Do you really think that little of me?”  Eddy’s voice nearly breaks as he reaches the climax of his outburst.  “Don’t you feel _anything_ for me?!”

 

“I don’t know!  I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know!”  Prince Mak nearly screeches at him as he covers his ears and buries his face in his knees.

 

“How can you not know?!” 

 

“I just don’t!  I don’t know because I never let myself even think about having feelings for you!”  Prince Mak’s voice cracks and suddenly drops to a soft and grating pitch.  “I never let myself… because I thought I’d lose you if I did…”

 

There’s a long pause, nothing but the howl of the wind and the wet sound of the rain falling onto their drenched bodies to be heard, and Eddy feels nothing but the blood pounding in his ears and the throbbing of his pulse in his neck as he struggles to understand what he’s heard.

 

“I… you… what?”  He eventually manages, and Prince Mak shakes his head against his thighs, and even though his voice is muffled by his legs his words make Eddy’s mouth fall open.

 

“I _hate_ it here.”

 

“Henry…”  Eddy murmurs, heart leaping into his throat at how broken Prince Mak sounds.

 

“I hate it here.  I hate it here so much!”  Prince Mak’s shoulders start to tremble as his voice starts to rise in pitch frantically.  “I’ve been here for years and I still can’t understand anybody!  I can’t talk to anybody, nobody can talk to me!  The food is spicy, the weather is shit, I hardly ever get to sleep, and I’m always getting sick and hurt!”

 

“Henry, I didn’t…”

 

“I hardly get any lines in our songs, people make fun of me because I can’t speak Korean, and I’m broke!  I have no money and I haven’t seen my family in years and I can’t even ask my parents for help because my family and all my friends back home think I’m a washed-up failure because I’m not famous!  They never wanted me to come here, they never wanted me to try to be an idol, they never thought I could make it, and it looks like they’re right!  Look at me!  I am a failure!  I’m just someone who threw all of what should have been the best years of their life away chasing a stupid dream, and look where it got me!  Poor and sick and friendless!  A complete failure!”

 

“Henry, I don’t think you’re…”  Eddy says softly, and that makes Prince Mak’s hunched shoulders shake even harder.

 

“Except you… except you… you’re my friend!  Even though you’re mean and cranky and violent, you’re my only real friend, and you’ve been my only real friend ever since we were trainees!  And that’s why I can’t feel anything more for you!  Because I can’t afford to lose you!”  Prince Mak finally looks up at Eddy, and his eyes look suspiciously red and Eddy’s willing to guess that his face isn’t wet just from the rain.  “You’re all I’ve got!”

 

Eddy shakes his head slowly, trying to understand.  “I don’t get it… why do you think you’ll lose me if you have feelings for me?”

 

“Because I thought this, this stupid arrangement we had, only worked because we were bros!  What if you didn’t feel the same way about me?” 

 

Eddy fights back the urge to push some of the sopping green hair out of Prince’s damp eyes. “But I told you how I felt… so what about now?”  
 

Prince Mak shrugs sadly (or maybe his shoulders shake in a half-sob or maybe it was an aggressive shiver, it’s hard to tell when the rain is so heavy that Prince Mak is almost blurry in Eddy’s eyes).  “What about now?  How can we be anything together?  What if we try, what if we get together, what if we fight and you hate me and we break up?  What if you never want to talk to me again?  I can’t let that happen, Eddy!  I can’t lose you!”

 

“You won’t.”

 

Prince Mak lets out a frustrated laugh that sounds more akin to a sob.  “How can you just say that so easily?”

 

“Because I mean it.”  Eddy stops for a second and thinks of Sancheong and E.co hurling insults and objects at each other and then making up within seconds, thinks of Zica and Yul and how they lost their dreams once but kept going because of each other.  “If we do try, and it doesn’t work out, I won’t abandon you.  I’ll still be your friend.  I promise.”

 

“How can you promise that?”  Prince asks in a tiny whisper, lips trembling, and Eddy’s eyes burn as he thinks of shy, sweet, strangely apt Yul and he whispers back.

 

“Because I’m pretty sure I love you, dumbass.  And if you love somebody, you don’t lose them.”

 

 And suddenly Prince Mak’s arms are around his neck and his head is pressed into his shoulder and his stupid green hair is dripping dye into his shirt, and Eddy’s arms move on their own and wrap around Prince and press into his back and he rests his head in the crook of his neck and they’re _hugging_.  They’re shivering and wet and there’s green hair dye everywhere and anybody at all could walk by and see them but Eddy just doesn’t care because they’re hugging and they’ve never hugged before and it feels so amazing and Eddy wants to stay like this forever because it feels so good and so right and like everything he’s wanted for so long.

 

Somebody does end up walking by (of course, the first person beyond Prince that Eddy’s seen outside all night and they choose to pass by right now), some middle aged man with an umbrella that stares at them like they’re crazy (they probably look the part right now), and Eddy directs his most menacing “I swear to god I will toss you in the fucking river if you even dare to interrupt this” glare at them and they move along rather quickly. 

 

Prince Mak doesn’t seem like he wants to let go of Eddy any time soon, but Eddy’s startled when he feels something hot and wet slide down his collarbone.

 

“Dude, are you crying on me?”  He asks, and Prince Mak pulls away from him indignantly, wiping his nose and sniffling.

 

“No, I’ve just got this stupid hair dye in my eyes, it really stings…”

 

Eddy chuckles ever so slightly, and Prince huffs at him.  “What about you, mate?  Are you crying?”

 

Eddy’s eyes have been burning for a while, and he knows it’s not just from the rain.  “Of course not.  Maybe I just got some of your stupid hair dye in my eyes too.”  He nearly smiles, lips curving uncertainly, and to his surprise Prince Mak sort of smiles back.

 

And they sit there, just sort of smiling at each other like they’re kind of seeing each other truly for the first time and it’s new and maybe sort of scary but maybe sort of nice, until Eddy feels brave enough to ask the question they’re both thinking of.  “So… uh, what now?”

 

Prince Mak shrugs, searching Eddy’s wet face with a nervous smile.  “What exactly do you want now?”

 

“You.”  Eddy says automatically, and he can feel his face heat up as Prince Mak gives him a strange (but not altogether rejecting) look.  “Not like that!  I mean, I want you like that too obviously, but… I don’t know… this is going to sound really stupid and gay, but I guess it is and I guess I am and… I’d like to be your boyfriend, I guess?”

 

“Are you asking me out?”  Prince Mak asks incredulously.

 

Eddy’s hands get sweaty and he suddenly feels way too hot even though he’s pretty sure his body is way below optimal temperature.  Prince Mak really does make him feel things nobody else does, mostly embarrassing stupid things, but new things nonetheless.  “I… uhm… yeah, I guess?”

 

“That was a terrible way to ask someone out.  Totally unromantic.”

 

If Prince’s eyes weren’t still red-rimmed Eddy swears he would punch him.  “Holy shit, what do you want?  I already came all the way out here in the middle of the night in the pouring rain looking for you and I told you a whole bunch of embarrassing feely shit and confessed and everything!  Do you want flowers and chocolate too?”  
 

Prince Mak looks thoughtfully at Eddy, shaking and wet and red hair falling in damp clumps around his face, and he grins.  “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

 

“Well shit, I’ll get them for you later then.” 

 

“Good.”  Prince Mak laughs just a little bit, sounding so much more like his usual self, and it makes Eddy so happy that he forgets himself and just smiles like an idiot at the dumb Australian with the even dumber green hair sitting next to him at the dumb river in the middle of this dumb city.  And Prince Mak smiles back at him, apprehensively, and he pauses before he asks his next question.  “So… if we did give this whole dating thing a try… what would change?”

 

“Nothing much, really…  I mean, it’s not like we could tell anyone beyond the guys, and we wouldn’t even have to tell them if you didn’t want to… although we both know they’d find out anyways so there’s not much point in not telling them… and we couldn’t act differently in public or anything but, I don’t know, I could be nicer to you, maybe?”  
 

Prince Mak looks up at him, confused, so Eddy begrudgingly continues.  “It may have been brought to my attention that I can be kind of a dick sometimes?  Apparently?”

 

“That’s true.”  Prince Mak says, and Eddy has to fight the instinctive urge he gets to smack him.

 

“So I guess I could try to be less mean to you, or something?”

 

Prince Mak giggles (it’s a giggle, there’s no way other way to describe it) and shakes his head.  “You don’t have to do that.  You wouldn’t be the Eddy I know if you did that.”

 

Eddy breathes a sigh of relief because, even if he does love Prince Mak, Prince is still an annoying dumbass at the best of times.  “Well, other than that, there’s really not much that would be different… we’d still eat food together and watch movies together and dance and sing together and do whatever we normally do together… but…”

 

Eddy’s voice trails off because he’s embarrassed to ask for what he wants next so Prince prompts him.  “…but?”

 

“…but we could do lots of stupid gay shit that we didn’t do before?  Only if you wanted to, of course…”  Eddy says quietly, refusing to look Prince Mak in the eyes, but Prince only looks at him curiously.

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like… we could hold hands sometimes, when we’re alone, if you wanted to?  And you could like, sleep in my bed sometimes, maybe?   Or you could wear my shirts sometimes or maybe I could make special food just for you once in a while and you could touch my hair if you felt like it or you could just touch me more in general or…”  Prince Mak has crept rather close to Eddy while he’s been talking, close enough that he can see the streaks of green on his pale face and feel his breath on his cheek and make out the shape of his wet and alarmingly blue lips.  “…or we could kiss… maybe, if that’s something you’d be interested in…”

 

“Yeah, I’d be interested in that…”  Prince Mak murmurs, breath ghosting across Eddy’s face, and Eddy shudders from something other than the cold.

 

“So… what do you think?  Would you go out with me?”  Eddy asks, forcing himself to talk instead of lean in to taste Prince Mak’s very frozen and very close lips, because as much as he’d like to make out with him right here and right now, they are technically in a very public area (even if nobody’s around at this moment).

 

Prince Mak pulls his head back a bit, looking Eddy (who looks like just as much of a mess as he does) from head to toe.  “I think…”  He starts as his eyes sweep over Eddy’s hopeful and nervous body, “…I think I’d like that.”

 

Eddy, pathetically, feels like he might faint.  “R-really?”

 

“Yeah.  I think I like you.  As more than a friend.  I don’t know if I love you yet, but I’d like to try to find out… if that’s okay with you.”

 

That’s fair.  That’s more than Eddy could have ever believed possible.  “Yeah.” 

 

With that, Prince Mak smiles.  Not just any smile either.  For a second it’s a glimpse of a familiar smile, the way E.co smiled at Sancheong when they just started going out, and Eddy has the stray thought that Zica probably smiled like that at Yul at first too.  Maybe it’s not the smile that says “I love you and you’re the most important thing in the world to me and you make me happier than anybody else ever could”, but it might be the smile that comes before that one.  It’s a smile that says “You make me confused and flustered and happier than I thought you could and that’s pretty damn happy”. 

 

So Eddy smiles back.  And they smile at each other until Eddy realizes that if anybody’s going to die from being out in the rain for so long, it’s Prince Mak with his sickly disposition. 

 

“Henry?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Will you come back to the dorm now?”

 

Prince Mak laughs and Eddy finally reaches forwards to push his bangs out of his face and he smiles when Prince doesn’t back away from his touch.  “I’d really like that.  I maybe kind of can’t feel my fingers?  Or my toes?”

 

So Eddy sighs and shakes his head and he helps Prince Mak to his feet and they make the long trek back to where Simba’s waiting in his car. 

 

Simba flings the door open and practically leaps out of the car when he spies Eddy.  “Where have you been?!  You’ve been gone for hours and I thought we’d lost you too and that you’d died or been robbed or-”

 

“Youngjin.”  Eddy interrupts, but Simba just keeps going on his tirade driven by exhaustion and worry.

 

“-or you were kidnapped or that you fell in the river or-”

 

“Youngjin, look.”  Eddy gestures at Prince Mak standing guiltily a little bit behind him.

 

“-or that you’d run away or got in a fight or-”

 

“Youngjin!”  Eddy yells, slapping him (not too hard) in the side of the head.

 

Simba stares at him dazedly for a few seconds before his brain kicks in and he registers Prince Mak’s presence.

 

“Henry?”  He asks slowly, as if he can’t quite believe that this bedraggled frozen person with green stains all over their shirt is their missing band member.

 

Eddy and Prince nod simultaneously as Simba’s eyes widen.  “Henry!”

 

Eddy’s not quick enough to warn Prince Mak to watch out for the impending bone-crushing hug and waterworks that are sure to accompany it before Simba has his arms around a very embarrassed Prince and is lifting him up off the ground and spinning him around and sobbing loudly.

 

“Henry!  Henry, Henry, Henry!  I can’t believe it’s you!  I didn’t think you’d come back at all!”  Simba sniffles as Prince Mak looks pleadingly at Eddy for help (he can’t understand most of what Simba is saying at the best of times, much less while crying and squeezing the air out of his lungs in the pouring rain) and Eddy just shrugs.

 

“How did you do it?  How did you get him to come back?”  Simba asks Eddy incredulously when he gets his fill of terrorizing Prince Mak.  “Are you two…?”

 

“It doesn’t matter what we are, just drive us home already before we all freeze to death!”  Simba smiles gratefully at the two of them and nods, but he gets his answer soon enough when Prince Mak catches Eddy by the wrist and motions for him to sit with him in the backseat.

 

Prince Mak stares at him oddly as Simba smiles and hums and cranks up the heat while he starts the car, fingers still loosely connected around Eddy’s wrist.  When Simba finally pulls out onto the road, Prince Mak leans in close to Eddy, studying his face in the dark, and Eddy can feel the urge from earlier return as Prince Mak’s breath brushes across his lips. 

 

Eddy takes a quick look to make sure Simba’s eyes are on the road before he asks for permission to do something he’s wanted to for a very, very long time. 

 

“Can I kiss you?”

 

Prince Mak only hesitates for a second before nodding, and even though it’s dark and they’re shaking and Simba seems to be determined to hit every single bump in the road, they somehow manage to connect their lips together gently in the backseat of the car.

 

It may not be their first kiss, technically, but it’s their first sober and as something more than just friends kiss, and it’s everything Eddy thought it would be. 

 

Well, maybe he didn’t think both of their lips would be hard and purple and cold, or that it would be in the backseat of a car that their leader was driving, or that they’d both be soaked to the bone, but it’s every bit as amazing as he’d imagined. 

 

They move tentatively at first, slowly, frigid lips barely gliding over another as they test this new change in their boundaries.  Then Simba hits a pothole and Eddy kind of falls into Prince Mak and kisses him a lot harder than he’d meant to, and Prince might be a little bit startled at first, but he doesn’t let their lips part.  Instead he takes a moment to gather his courage and then kisses Eddy back just as hard, hands gliding slowly up Eddy’s arms and onto his shoulders and then up his neck until they’re twisting gently into his wet locks.

 

So Eddy does the same, sliding his hands carefully up Prince’s back and up the sides of his pretty neck and Prince shudders as they travel across the tender skin there.  Then Eddy’s strong hands are pulling away from his neck until they’re softly cupping his jawline and tilting his head for better access to his mouth.  Prince Mak moans low and lightly sucks at Eddy’s thick bottom lip and Prince tastes so good, not sweet or salty or anything like that, just good, and he smells good and feels good and Eddy swears he’s losing his mind like this because nothing should feel this good and…

 

“Okay, not to interrupt or anything, but it’s kind of hard to drive with a boner, so… you know…”  Simba grins unashamedly as he makes eye contact with Eddy through the rear-view mirror.

 

Prince pulls away, finally breaking their kiss as he stares at Eddy with startled confusion, and he looks flushed and handsome and dishevelled and beautiful all at the same time, and for once Eddy could care less if Simba’s watching.

 

“Pull over then, because I don’t think we’re going to stop.”  Eddy murmurs as he tugs Prince Mak towards him once again, and Prince doesn’t protest at all as their lips meet and his hands roam around Eddy’s back to hold him close and he doesn’t let go again while Simba whistles and laughs, and Eddy gets this strange feeling that his broken heart is going to heal rather quickly.


	6. people like you are the reason we have rules (and the reason we break them)

The first thing Eddy notices when he wakes up the next morning is that, judging from the lack of light shining through the curtains of his and Prince Mak’s cramped room, it’s still dark outside.  Which is good, it means there’s still a considerable amount of time before he needs to be up and worrying about their schedule for the day.

 

The second thing he notices is that he’s warm.  Which is unusual, because lately he’s been waking up feeling cold and clammy and depressingly unrested.

 

But he’s lying on his side and the blankets are tucked up to his chin and there’s someone spooned up tight behind him, a lean arm wrapped securely around his waist and bare sinewy legs all tangled up with his own.  There’s a hand that’s somehow found its way under the hem of the shirt he’s wearing (the shirt itself feels weird, it’s a bit too big and smells familiar but not like him or Prince Mak) and it’s warm and nice against his stomach and he can feel a heartbeat thumping steadily from the chest pressed close against his back.  His hair’s being ruffled every time the person behind him breathes in and out, and it all feels so good and cozy and like this is the best way anyone could ever sleep and he’d probably have dozed off almost immediately again if the back of his neck didn’t feel so wet and slimy.

 

Wet and slimy…?

 

“Henry, oh my god, you’re drooling on my neck!”  Eddy’s eyes snap open as he tries to wriggle out of Prince Mak’s grip, but the harder he struggles the harder Prince Mak grasps his waist.

 

“Shhh… shhh… just five more minutes…”  A barely conscious (if at all) Prince Mak snuggles up closer to him, pressing damp lips against the back of his already very wet neck.  Except that’s not the only thing he presses against Eddy.

 

Prince is sporting some impressive morning wood, which he pushes rather insistently against Eddy’s only boxer-clothed ass, and his erection slides between Eddy’s cheeks in a manner that’s both annoying and making him feel way too flustered way too quickly.

 

“Henry, for fuck’s sakes…”  Eddy manages to squirm around enough in Prince’s arms to turn himself so they’re lying face to face and he can press his hands firmly against Prince’s bare chest.  His chest is bare too?  And his legs?  And his stupid boner felt way too close for him to be wearing underwear… “…are you naked?”

 

Prince Mak finally starts to wake up when Eddy starts trying (futilely) to shove the horny dumbass he apparently shared a bed with last night away from him.

 

“Mmm… hey.”  Prince Mak smiles sloppily at him as he blinks the sleep out his eyes and licks at his lips and absentmindedly traces a thumb across Eddy’s cheek.  For a moment he’s quiet and his eyes are unfocused and he’s smiling so fondly and he looks absolutely lovely and Eddy forgets that he’s annoyed with him.  Just for a moment though, because Mak has to ruin it by opening his mouth.  “What’s up?”

 

Eddy raises a sarcastic eyebrow as he looks down beneath the covers pointedly.  “You, apparently, you pervert.  Why are you naked?  And hard?  Oh my god, did we…?”

 

Eddy remembers Simba, the car, the rain, Prince Mak’s lips against his.  He barely remembers how they actually got into the dorm, but he does remember that everyone had apparently fallen asleep waiting for them.  E.co was sleeping with his head in Sancheong’s lap while Sancheong looked like he had been massaging his boyfriend’s shoulders when sleep overtook him, a hand still resting between E.co’s sharp shoulder-blades as he snored quietly with his head falling back against the couch.  Zica and Yul were there too, sitting on the carpet not far from Sancheong and E.co.  Zica was still awake, a hand stroking softly at Yul’s soft blonde hair and another wrapped supportively around his waist as he let Yul doze against his shoulder.

 

Zica had shaken Yul awake gently when the door had opened and E.co had rubbed at his eyes and smeared his eyeliner when Sancheong sat up.  Mak had tried to hide awkwardly behind Eddy and Simba, unsure of how he’d be greeted by the rest of the members.  Everyone was quiet for a second, then E.co’s sharp eyes noticed how Eddy had his hand loosely pressed into Prince’s back and Prince Mak’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when the oldest member pulled him into a tight hug, closely followed by Sancheong and Zica and Yul and Simba again and there were more tears and sniffling from their leader before they’d all collectively agreed to get to bed and sort out things in the morning.

 

And he remembers stumbling to their room together, not bothering to turn on the lights and tripping over clothing and animals in the dark, laughing and smiling, excited and exhausted and relieved and nervous and shy all at once, grinning as they fell onto a mattress together.

 

He’s not entirely sure what happened after (they just fell asleep, right?), but he definitely doesn’t remember them doing _that_ …

 

Prince Mak shakes his head as he follows Eddy’s gaze and shrugs.  “My clothes were wet… and it was easier to just take them off instead of finding dry ones… and I dunno, you’re kind of hot, I guess…?”

 

Eddy rolls his eyes as he returns to trying to shove Prince away.  “Dumbass.” 

 

Prince laughs and pulls Eddy closer as Eddy pushes at his chest in vain.  “Is that any way to talk to your new boyfriend?”

 

“If my new boyfriend’s a dumbass, which he is…”  Eddy’s voice trails off as Prince Mak reaches up to cup his jaw and tilt his face towards him.  The idiot’s looking at him with big dark eyes, and hey, he said _boyfriend_ , and that means he didn’t change his mind sometime between last night and now, and Eddy’s suddenly aware of how fast his heart is pounding in his chest when Prince leans in to close the gap between their lips.

 

He kisses Eddy slowly and tentatively, like he’s not really sure if he’s allowed to, like he’s suddenly shy even though he’s stark naked and displaying an erection that’s pushed up firmly against Eddy’s hip.  And Eddy would tell him that he’s not allowed to because holy shit, he hasn’t even brushed his teeth yet (and what kind of idiot kisses you with morning breath?), but for some reason his tongue forgets how to form words and all he can do is kiss back. 

 

Everything feels good, so, so good.  Prince really doesn’t taste all that bad and his hands are warm and strong and placed just right on Eddy’s face and Eddy still doesn’t understand where he learned to kiss like he does.  Because there’s no way someone so awkward or previously lonely should be able to kiss the breath out of Eddy’s lungs or make him pant against his lips or make his face burn or ruin his capacity for coherent thought, but that’s exactly what Prince Mak does to him each time their lips glide together gently.

 

Things get a bit more intense when Eddy curls his fingers behind Prince’s ears and tugs him closer, almost instinctively, like this is how they spend every morning, like this is how they wake up every day (and in Eddy’s opinion, it most definitely should be from here on in).  Mak responds happily, eagerly, letting his hands roam over Eddy’s face, using his tongue to sweep at Eddy’s full bottom lip, getting a knee between Eddy’s thick thighs, slowly rolling his hips so his erection rubs up against Eddy’s skin.

 

And really, how can Eddy be expected to not get aroused with this beautiful idiot grinding against him in such a blatantly needy way?  It only takes a few gyrations of Prince’s hips for Eddy to be hot and hard and pushing back against him.  He can feel Prince’s lips curve upwards into a tiny smirk against his lips as he grinds his own hard-on into Mak’s stomach, and he pulls back to get a good look at him.

 

Flushed cheeks, annoyingly attractive smile, irritatingly smooth skin, leaning back on his sinewy arms to reveal dark hair underneath his armpits, erection standing strong against a firm stomach with a dusky trail of hair down his navel, ridiculous messy green hair.  Disgustingly hot.  Embarrassingly, everything Eddy could ever want.

 

“What?”  Prince grins, looking over Eddy in what seems like much the same way Eddy’s looking over him.  “You like what you see?”

 

Eddy can’t help but grin back as Mak reaches under the hem of his shirt to give a tentative caress to the strong muscles of his abdomen.  “Do you?”

 

Prince Mak gives him a considering sweep of his eyes.  “The view’s… okay, I guess.”

 

“Just okay?”  Eddy reaches forward to smack at Prince’s head, but Prince catches his hand and pulls him forward into another messy kiss.

 

“Maybe a little bit more than okay.  Just a little bit though.”

 

They fall back into the blankets, smiling and laughing and kissing, Prince Mak tracing the shape of Eddy’s plump lips with his tongue.  Prince gasps into his mouth when Eddy decides to move things along and reaches between them to grip Prince’s erection.  Prince Mak slips his fingers beneath the waistline of Eddy’s underwear and does the same for him in return, and Eddy moans and bucks up into his hand as sweat starts to bead on his hairline.

 

Prince is just about to stroke him to completion when he withdraws his hand, and Eddy lets out a low frustrated whine.  He would complain more, but Prince nibbles on his bottom lip and sucks his breath away as he reaches over the edge of the bed to rummage around under the mattress. 

 

Prince Mak pulls away and gives him a wicked wink as he drops a few foil packets and a bottle onto the bed, giving his phone a quick glance.  “What do you think?”  He raises an eyebrow at Eddy, tugging at a strand of red hair that’s fallen over an eye.  “Do you wanna?  We have time…”

 

Eddy’s not entirely sure why he hesitates.  Maybe it’s because it’s their first time doing this as more than friends.  Maybe it’s because he still can’t entirely believe that Prince Mak agreed to go out with him in the first place. 

 

Or maybe it’s because Prince’s best seduction technique includes wiggling his eyebrows at him and sticking out his lips in a convincing impression of a duck.

 

Eddy sticks out his hand to poke at Mak’s protruding lips.  “If you stop doing _that_ , then sure.”

 

Prince laughs and nips at Eddy’s fingertips before pushing him onto his back, stroking red hair out of his face.  “So, uh… you or me?”

 

The warmth of Prince on top of him already feels too good for Eddy to pass up.  “You.”  

 

Prince Mak nods, smiles, reaches out for the lube, and then stops, chewing at his bottom lip with his face hovering just over Eddy’s.  Surprisingly uncertain for someone who’s had sex with Eddy an uncountable number of times before.

 

“Something wrong?”  Eddy stares up at him, searching Mak’s dark and pretty eyes, a sudden jolt of self-consciousness and panic shooting through his body.

 

“No, it’s just… is this different now that we’re boyfriends?”

 

“What?”

 

Prince Mak looks down at Eddy with such seriousness, and his concern would be a little heart-touching if it wasn’t so stupid.  “Like, do I have to do anything differently?”

 

“No, I’m pretty sure everything works the same…”

 

Prince’s eyes are so big and beautiful as he unwittingly plays with Eddy’s hair to calm himself.  Dumb, but big and beautiful all the same.  “But I can kiss you at the same time, right?” 

 

Eddy doesn’t even bother giving him a verbal response, instead rolling his eyes and grabbing a handful of that ridiculous green hair and tugging Prince’s lips down to meet his.  Prince Mak understands happily, and refuses to let their lips part as they both work to pull Eddy’s boxers down his legs, significantly complicating the logistics of this action, but after some weird twisting around and some impressive contorting they manage and the fabric is thrown over the edge of the bed and forgotten.

 

Prince somehow cracks the lube open while still sucking on Eddy’s lips (they’re getting quite swollen and that only seems to make Prince kiss more intensely) and he slicks his fingers up while Eddy parts his thick thighs and yanks Mak between them.  

 

Now, they’ve done this a hundred times before, and at this point it should be pretty routine.  However, this time it’s anything but.  Prince reaches between Eddy’s legs and circles him slowly with a slippery finger, opening his eyes questioningly but leaving his tongue halfway down Eddy’s throat, and Eddy nods his consent against Mak’s burning lips.

 

Eddy’s breath catches in his lungs when Prince pushes a finger in (with much more gentleness and finesse than the first time they did this), but Prince helps suck it out with a particularly deep and absolutely scorching kiss. 

 

If Eddy thought this felt good before, it can’t even compare to how it feels now.  He’s not even sure if he’s going to be able to hold on through being stretched, much less for anything coming after.  Fuck Prince Mak and how well he knows his body now and how amazingly he kisses and how his lips are still curved into a smile even though his tongue is curled around Eddy’s and his stupid green hair and everything about him, because he’s making Eddy feel like this is a first time instead of a thousandth time with how hard it is to control his body and how absolutely lost he feels in this gorgeous idiot. 

 

And for once this doesn’t feel like a competition, like they’re just trying to get each other off as fast as possible.  Prince is careful with him, slow and unusually meticulous, waiting until Eddy’s good and relaxed before adding additional fingers, learning the effect that every plunge of his hand has on the way Eddy kisses.  Eddy’s unhurried and exploratory with him in return, letting his hands wander slowly down from the green strands; surprised and excited and grateful all at once when Prince Mak doesn’t push his hands away, instead almost swaying into his touches. 

 

Unbelievably, all of his wishes from before seem to be coming true; Prince’s free hand starts to roam, first reaching up under the hem of Eddy’s shirt and running over the skin of his chest, then tracing down his torso to rest on the muscle of his thighs, squeezing and exploring in just the way Eddy always wished he would.  Eddy strokes at his new boyfriend’s neck gently, surprised to feel how he shudders against his lips, worrying the skin there slowly until Mak can’t seem to take it and presses hard against Eddy’s prostate while biting his bottom lip and Eddy’s forced to let his hands drop to Mak’s shoulders.  Eddy’s always wanted this too though, finally getting to feel the skin of Prince Mak’s shoulders under his palms (and it really is as smooth as it looks) as Mak releases Eddy’s lip and they slip back into their slow pace.

 

As much as Eddy would like to stay like this, to keep things slow, to revel in deep and blistering kisses and the languid way Mak’s fingers pump inside of him, he’s already burning up.  Sweat’s dripping down his face and soaking the front of the strange but familiar shirt and pooling in the indents made by his collarbones, and when Prince moves his hand up his thigh and grips his erection firmly Eddy grinds himself down hard on his fingers to signal his readiness, because there’s no way he’s going to last if Prince keeps this up any longer. 

 

Prince Mak gets the hint, withdrawing his fingers in an excruciatingly torpid and wonderfully searing slide, pressing a quick final kiss to Eddy’s puffy lips before reaching for a condom.  He rolls it on with a wink that’s equal parts infuriating and endearing, also grabbing the lube again and slicking himself up (annoyingly cocky), before positioning himself between Eddy’s legs.

 

They don’t need words this time, all Eddy needs to do is nod at his new boyfriend for him to understand.  Eddy grabs the sheets fiercely when Prince pushes in, trying to simply relax and breathe through the initial stretch, but this time the burn feels good, so, so wickedly good, especially with the way Prince grips his hips with strong hands as he fills him.  When he bottoms out, he brings his hands up to Eddy’s and links their fingers together, pressing his hands down into the mattress, just like he did the first time they did this.

 

Even though they take things slowly, they don’t last long.  Prince’s thrusts are long and unhurried, their pace is lazy, and Eddy’s thighs squeeze tight around Prince’s waist with each hot slide in, but it’s the way that Prince Mak leans in to kiss him, intense and sweltering and full of want, that undoes Eddy.  It only takes a couple strong lunges and a scalding swipe of Prince’s tongue against his own for him to shudder and come hot against Prince’s smooth skin and the fabric of the shirt. 

 

Prince Mak follows him with a sharp thrust and a hard squeeze of their sweaty interlocked hands and Eddy’s name whispered against his swollen lips.  Eddy feels the usual sudden hollow emptiness and pang of regret when Mak pulls out and rolls off the bed to get rid of the condom, so he does what he always does and closes his eyes and just tries to catch his breath.  Which is why he nearly swallows his own tongue in surprise when Mak flops down onto the mattress and wraps his warm wiry arms around his waist.

 

This is new.  Eddy’s so used to being pushed away as soon as they’ve both gotten off, in maintaining as much physical distance as possible after a great orgasm.  He’s definitely not used to Mak cuddling right up to his side (which is nice, but would it have killed him to clean himself up a little first?) and rubbing his nose into his cheek and pressing sweaty green strands up against his shining temple.  It takes Eddy a few seconds to respond, but eventually he hesitantly moves his own arms to tuck loosely around Prince’s waist, and when Prince just sighs at the touch Eddy pulls him in closer and holds him tight.

 

“That was really, really good.”  Prince Mak smiles, rubbing spit-slick lips on Eddy’s face and making Eddy’s heart swell.  “Our best yet.”

 

“Hmm.”  Eddy hums in agreeance, not sure if he’s regained enough control of his senses to not say something stupid and sappy, settling for pressing a sloppy kiss on Mak’s forehead instead.

 

“Well, I was really, really good.  You just kinda laid there.”  Eddy does have enough control to smack Prince half-heartedly on the side of his beautiful, dumb head.  “Okay, okay, you were pretty good too…”

 

“Idiot.”  Eddy huffs, but he can’t even feel slightly upset, not with the way Prince is absolutely beaming at him.

 

They lay there for a while, enjoying each other’s warmth, sweaty legs tangled together and running their hands through damp and colorful hair.  Eddy’s so comfortable and relaxed and everything feels so good and so right for once, with Prince Mak at his side and none of the usual remorse and coldness he normally feels after they do this present.  Prince feels like he belongs there next to him, and if the way he’s smiling at Eddy is anything to go by, it’s pretty fair to say that he thinks Eddy belongs next to him too.  He’s just about dozed off again when Prince’s stupid accent makes him crack an eye open.

 

“Do you wanna go again?”

 

“What?”    

 

Mak detaches an arm from Eddy’s waist to reach over the edge of the bed and grab his phone.  “Look, we’ve still got some time…  We’d have to be kind of quick, but do you want to have a second round?”

 

“Uh…” Prince rolls his hips pointedly, rubbing his fresh erection up against Eddy’s side and Eddy starts to feel a different kind of warm all over again.  When Prince gives him a cheeky smile and drops a hand between Eddy’s legs, Eddy knows he’s been suckered in, and he doesn’t really care.  “Okay, sure.” 

 

This is also new, and it’s nice.  They’ve never done anything like this before, everything up to this point has been quick and rushed and dirty, and Eddy’s heart beats embarrassingly wildly at just the thought of how much Prince actually wants him if he really wants to do this all over again.  Prince Mak strokes him to fullness quickly, Eddy’s body only too eager to respond to his touches, and Prince himself doesn’t really need any help to be heavy and hot in Eddy’s hand.

 

Prince Mak reaches for the lube and another condom before scooching up the bed and sitting up with his back pressed against the wall and patting his bare thighs. 

 

“Come here.”  He grins, annoyingly enticing as he lounges back against the wall, and Eddy shakes his head even as he crawls up into his lap.  Mak grabs Eddy’s hips and helps him position himself over his erection before pressing a quick kiss to Eddy’s jaw.  “Whenever you’re ready, bro.”

 

“I’ll be ready when you shut up…”  Prince Mak laughs as Eddy sucks in a deep breath before slowly lowering himself onto his new boyfriend’s cock, which is when he learns a good reason as to why they haven’t done this twice in a row before.  “Oh my god… shit, _Henry_.  Shit shit shit shit shit fuck _shit_ , holy fuck…”

 

“Mate, you okay?”  Prince’s face is comically torn between concern and the simple desire to fuck his new boyfriend into coital bliss, and the effort it takes him to not thrust upwards looks almost painful.

 

“Yeah, shit… uh, I just… ahhh…” 

 

It feels like Eddy’s melting.  His bones feel like they’ve turned to jelly and sweat’s dripping down the back of his neck and the cum-stained shirt is so damp and sticking to his skin and if it weren’t for Mak’s strong grip on his hips he’s not sure he’d be able to hold himself up.  He feels way too tender to be doing this, but Prince is absolutely searing inside of him and the sensitivity and overstimulation is nearly blinding him.  It’s good, good, so deliciously good.  The kind of good he’d be embarrassed to admit if he could get his mouth to cooperate.

 

“Do you want to stop?  We can-”

 

“Don’t you dare stop.”  Eddy manages to get out through gritted teeth, before losing his voice again as Prince Mak shifts slightly underneath (and by way of physical attachment, inside) him.

 

Mak laughs softly, rolling his hips experimentally and his lips forming a wicked grin when Eddy lets out an impressive slew of curses.  “Oh, so it’s good?”

 

“Shut up, fuck, yes, yes…”  Of all the times to be teased by this Australian idiot.  His arms are so limp, linked loosely behind Prince’s neck, that he can’t even bring himself to form a fist.  Instead he just lets his head slump forwards and rest against Prince’s shoulder, biting into his flesh to keep himself from saying anything else stupid. 

 

The scrape of his teeth on Mak’s smooth skin seems to spur him into action.  He starts to move his hips slowly, humming with every appreciative gasp that leaves Eddy lips.  The gasps quickly turn to barely contained moans when Prince uses his hands to guide Eddy around his cock.  Eddy has a considerable amount of weight on him, so this is no easy task, if the grunts of effort he releases every time he pulls Eddy up by the hips are anything to go by.  But this gives Mak more room for deeper, harder thrusts, and it’s obvious that he’s getting close by the way he hasn’t said anything stupid for a few seconds.

 

Eddy, for his part, is barely hanging on.  He feels like he’s simultaneously on the verge of orgasm and passing out, everything’s so hot and so good and he’s way beyond his limit of stimulation and it’s all just much too much.  The only thing that’s stopping him from releasing is some vague thought about how he doesn’t want to come embarrassingly early, and even that’s not helping too much, especially not when Prince Mak starts lifting him up so just the very tip of his cock is left inside and then dropping him so he’s forced to take the entire length at once.

 

“Henry, Henry, shit, I’m not going to… ah… shit… Henry, _Henry_ -”

 

And that’s when somebody knocks on the door.

 

Eddy’s mouth is firmly clamped over Prince Mak’s shoulder, so it’s up to Prince to tell whoever is rudely interrupting to go away.  Not that he stops thrusting up into Eddy while he does so. 

 

“Busy!”  He yells in English, but whoever’s knocking keeps it up.  “Like, _really_ busy!”

 

Apparently this answer isn’t good enough, because E.co decides to walk right in after another round of sharp knocks.

 

“Oh, so _this_ is why you wouldn’t answer.”  He doesn’t look shocked in the least, shapely lips forming an infuriatingly pleased smile.

 

Prince freezes, not really sure what to do in this situation beyond stare blankly at their intruder, and Eddy’s far gone enough to not bother with moving either.  Although he does regain the ability to form lots of angry words at once.  “What the hell, Joonyoung?!  Henry clearly said that we’re busy!” 

 

E.co scoffs and flips his hair (looking way too perfectly styled for so early in the morning).  “I don’t speak English.  Besides, I didn’t hear anything.”

 

“Going deaf in your old age now?”  Eddy mumbles through gritted teeth, looking down at his startled boyfriend, unsure whether to attempt separation from Mak or not.

 

“So rude to your hyung!”  E.co’s suddenly sharp ears don’t miss that, but he doesn’t look offended in the least, instead doing that laugh he does where he throws his head back and claps his hands almost too enthusiastically.  “Especially after I came here to tell you both something important!”

 

“What can possibly be so important that you had to interrupt this?!”

 

“Group meeting!  A big, important one!  It would be at breakfast but…”

 

“…but you haven’t made breakfast yet!  What are you doing and why is it more important than making breakfast?”  Simba shouts from the hallway.

 

“Joonyoung, please don’t let him in-” Eddy tries, but Simba pushes the door open before E.co can even attempt to stop him.

 

“Oh.  _This_.  Okay, I understand.”  Simba understands all too well, unfortunately, opting to stand in the doorway and stare.

 

“Good, if you understand, do you think you could leave?”  Eddy swears his entire body must be as red as his hair by now, and the fact that he’s still sitting in Prince’s lap with his cock buried inside him really isn’t helping.

 

Simba doesn’t make like he’s planning on moving any time soon, so E.co chuckles and grabs his hand, tugging gently.  “Come on, Youngjin, let’s let them finish.  This is pretty boring, even as far as vanilla sex goes…”

 

“Hey!  We’re right here!”  Eddy tries to sit up, but the movement only serves to drive Mak even further inside him, and he can’t hold in the moan that results.

 

Simba’s eyes glint at the noise, a distant smile forming on his face.  “But he’s wearing my shirt…”

 

Eddy reels backwards as much as is possible with Mak’s tight grip on his hips.  “Oh my god…”  So that’s whose shirt it is.  His initial instinct is to tear it off as quickly as possible, but at the same time, it’s the only thing preserving any modicum of dignity he has left, and he ends up fisting a handful of it uncertainly.

 

“It’s like I’m right there with you guys!”  Simba claps his hands happily and Eddy gags while E.co shakes his head and laughs.

 

“Disgusting…”

 

“If only they could be so lucky.”  E.co ruffles Simba’s hair with his free hand, still trying to lead him out through the open door.

 

“Why is there no breakfast yet?”  Sancheong wanders in, hair a mess and rubbing at his eyes tiredly.

 

“Not you too!  Get out!”  Eddy yells, not that anybody seems to notice.

 

“ _This_ is why there’s no breakfast?”  Sancheong manages to barely crack a single eye open, taking in the scene on the bed without a hint of surprise.  “But I’m hungry…”

 

“Make your own fucking breakfast for once!”  Eddy starts reaching around blindly for something he can throw while Prince Mak just grips at him tighter.

 

Simba takes a pillow in the face and still doesn’t move an inch while Zica’s low voice and Yul’s gentle replies can be heard in the hallway.

 

“Don’t let them in here!  Joonyoung, please!  They’re too nice for this!”  Eddy’s ready to plead, he’s still so close to coming but he really doesn’t want it to happen in front of these idiots, much less the sweet new members.

 

“Okay, okay, come on guys, we’re leaving…”  E.co grabs the back of both Sancheong’s and Simba’s shirts in one graceful swoop and tugs them towards the door.  “Eddy wants to come and he’s too shy to do it in front of us.”  
 

“Not like that’s going to take long.  Look at how hard he’s sweating.”  Sancheong says, Simba practically drools, and Eddy renews his efforts to find something to throw that’s more solid than a pillow. 

 

E.co strokes at his chin, considering the scene on the bed with knowledgeable eyes.  “I doubt it ever takes them long.”

 

“Leave!  Now!”  Eddy curls his fist around the bedside lamp, and that gets the three dumbasses with literally no understanding of personal space out of the bedroom with the door closed firmly behind them.

 

Eddy slumps forward into Prince Mak’s shoulder again, not sure whether to laugh or cry while Mak finally moves for the first time since E.co first walked in, sliding his arms up under the stained shirt (Simba’s shirt) and patting Eddy’s back.

 

“So… that was pretty embarrassing, I’m going to guess?”  He asks, flipping his green hair out of his eyes.

 

“Oh, I don’t know, only if you get embarrassed by your friends watching you have sex …”

 

“And do you?”

 

“What do you think?”

 

Prince Mak takes a good look at him, like he’s seriously considering the question.  “Well, your face kind of matches your hair so…”

 

“Oh my god, can we just finish this, maybe?  Before Hadon dies of starvation or something…”

 

Mak laughs, giving Eddy a scorching kiss that makes him forget E.co’s perfect hair and Simba’s awkward boner that was totally visible through his pyjama pants and the drool dried on Sancheong’s sleepy face and everything beyond those beautiful burning lips.

 

“I thought you’d never ask…”  Prince slides his hands down again to resume their earlier position on Eddy’s hips.

 

“Wait, wait, wait!  Get this off me first.”  Eddy gestures to Simba’s shirt, and Prince Mak grins and happily complies, tearing the shirt over Eddy’s head and flinging it to the furthest possible corner of the room. 

 

After that, all it takes is a sloppy kiss to Eddy’s bare chest and a few brutal slams of Prince’s hips to have Eddy panting and shuddering through his second orgasm of the morning, Prince following quickly at the way Eddy clenches and ruts down on him. 

 

It takes a few minutes for them to recover, Prince letting his head loll back against the wall, Eddy pressing unseeing kisses to whatever skin of Prince’s his lips happen to rest on.  Eventually Prince starts toying with Eddy’s hair, giving little kisses to the skin behind Eddy’s ears.

 

“So, we’re going to wake up like this from now on, right?”  He asks, hopeful, fingers massaging Eddy’s scalp like it’s something he’s always wanted to do.

 

Eddy tries to ease himself off his new boyfriend, grimacing and thighs shaking as he feels Mak slide out of him.  “I have a feeling that my ass won’t be able to handle that…”

 

“Well, we’ll take turns, obviously.”

 

If Eddy’s body wasn’t beyond satiated, he swears he’d be rock hard again from that statement alone, and judging by Mak’s pink-tinged cheeks, he feels a similar way.  “Then definitely.”

 

They only have time to share one last kiss, one that’s weirdly tender and satisfied and maybe sort of anxious and exciting because the reality that Eddy really can spend the brief time they have before schedules like this, with Prince Mak, his boyfriend, is hitting him pretty hard, before they hear shouting from down the hallway and the dorm fire alarm goes off.

 

“No problem, no fire, everything’s good!”  Simba yells from the general direction of the kitchen, and Eddy feels exhausted in more ways than one.

 

“Should we go?”  Prince Mak smiles, tying off the condom before rolling onto his stomach and fishing sweatpants and relatively clean shirts (that actually belong to them) off the ground and passing the articles to Eddy.

 

Eddy nods, sighing and tugging on the proffered sweats, incredibly relieved when the alarm stops beeping.  “Probably, before Youngjin burns down the dorm…”

 

Prince helps him off the bed, Eddy frowning a little at the dull ache in his back and hoping that it goes away before he has to do any dancing (it always does), but he can’t help but smile fondly at the beautiful dumbass offering him a sweaty hand even though they’re only walking to the kitchen.  Eddy’s not exactly sure why Prince Mak is trying out all of the boyfriend things this morning (the shirt he pulled on at random was actually Eddy’s and the sight of him in his shirt makes Eddy’s heart thump weirdly), but he couldn’t be happier about it. 

 

The smile fades right before they make it to the kitchen and the smell of acrid smoke fills the air. 

 

“I swear, I hate all of you.”  Eddy grumbles, waving a cloud of smoke away from his face and reluctantly letting go of Prince’s hand to assess the damage to his carefully maintained kitchen and maybe open a few windows when he’s struck dumb by the scene in front of him.

 

There is breakfast.  A lot of breakfast.  A lot of not burnt, actually extremely appetizing looking breakfast.  It might look a little messy, like the people who made it didn’t spend their childhoods growing up in their parent’s restaurants, but it’s still surprisingly good looking nonetheless. 

 

“Sorry, sorry, we’re sorry!  We let Youngjin touch the stove for just a second and he decided to burn this,” Zica holds up a blackened pot as Yul grimaces in Simba’s direction “, to a crisp.”

 

“You made this?”  Eddy gapes, looking between Yul and Zica with wide eyes.  The newest members simply nod, gesturing for Eddy and Prince to take a seat.

 

“I changed my mind, I hate all of you except you two.”  Eddy says as he sits next to Sancheong (who’s sleeping facedown on the table) and smiling as Prince sits right beside him.

 

E.co shakes Sancheong awake when Eddy and Prince sit, looking like he wants to say something about their unwashed outfits and messy hair but thankfully keeping his comments to himself, and Youngjin slides into his spot with a sheepish grin at Zica and Yul.

 

“Can we start the meeting now?”  E.co asks, dishing out food for Sancheong (who Eddy’s still not entirely sure is awake) and Simba nods through a mouthful of food.

 

“So, we haven’t been entirely truthful with you guys,” Simba begins, gesturing at Zica and Yul as Eddy helps himself to some of the massive breakfast the new members prepared, “but we think you deserve the whole truth now.”

 

Eddy quickly discovers that there are two very different kinds of dishes here, ones made by Yul, which are nice if not a little bland, and ones made by Zica, judging by the fact that they seem to only be edible to E.co and Zica himself.  When he takes his first bite of one of Zica’s dishes, he’s surprised that a hole isn’t burnt straight through his tongue.  He’s never eaten anything on quite this level of spicy in his life, and only the eldest member and the maker of these possibly caustic dishes appear to be able to handle them.

 

E.co nudges Sancheong awake again with one of his bony elbows.  “As you probably already figured out, Hadon and I are together.”  Sancheong nods sleepily at his boyfriend’s words, linking their pinky fingers together as E.co fusses with the youngest member’s bedhead.

 

“Yeah, they’ve been dating for ages.  They’re totally in love and it’s cute and gross.”  Simba grins at the newest members, and Yul smiles genuinely as Zica lets out a cheerful laugh.

 

“Thanks, we kind of guessed that might be a thing.”  The round faced member says, chuckling amiably as he dumps hot sauce all over his plate.

 

“And Eddy and Henry are… are… are…”  Simba pauses, staring at the pair curiously.  “…what are you guys, exactly?”

 

The rest of the table gives Eddy and Prince such a hopeful look that Eddy’s almost embarrassed.  “Well… we… uh… decided that we’d try dating and see how that-”

 

“ _Boyfriends_.”  Prince Mak says, in Korean, linking his hand with the one that Eddy currently isn’t holding utensils in. 

 

“Finally.”  Sancheong rolls his eyes, trying to look like he’s immediately bored with this confirmation of Eddy and Prince’s relationship status, but the corners of his lips keep tugging upwards as he shovels food into his mouth.

 

Zica and Yul give Eddy huge and knowing smiles, while E.co claps his long fingers together and Simba hoots.  Eddy, for his part, just stares dumbly at Prince Mak.

 

“Did I say it wrong?  _Boyfriends_?  That’s the right word, isn’t it?”  Prince looks at Eddy with confusion, repeating the word to himself in varying pitches.

 

“Yeah, it’s the right word, I just… didn’t think you’d admit it to them so easily…” 

 

Prince looks even more perplexed by this.  “But we are boyfriends, aren’t we?  Should I not have told them?”

 

“No… I just…”  Eddy can feel his face flushing, but he can’t really care.  Instead he settles for giving Prince Mak a tiny sappy smile, one that Mak returns uncertainly, but returns all the same.  “Thank you.”

 

“Okay, they’re obviously gross and cute too…”  Simba laughs, giving the pair his own mushy smile before turning to face the newest members.  “So, that’s the situation here now.  And I think that’s really all we had to tell you…”

 

“Well, we have something we want to tell you all too.”  Zica puts down his chopsticks slowly, causing the big smile that had been permanently on Yul’s face to fade.

 

“Daehwan, do we have to…?”  Yul asks quietly, but Zica nods resolutely.

 

“They need to know too.”

 

“But Daehwan…”

 

“Chanyul.”  Zica and Yul share a silent look, and Yul eventually nods, albeit reluctantly.  “Chanyul and I… we’re together...”

 

Yul looks strangely relieved, letting out a huge breath of air as E.co and Simba clap happily and Sancheong shrugs and Zica winks at Eddy.  The only person who looks any bit surprised is Prince Mak (and that’s only after Eddy translates for him).  Yul blushes faintly at all the attention and he hesitantly accepts Zica’s hand, but the smile on his face as he looks at Zica might be the happiest one Eddy’s ever seen.

 

“Oh, you two are so adorable!”  E.co coos, positively beaming at the newest members.

 

Daehwan picks up his chopsticks again before clearing his throat.  “…and we both slept with Youngjin.  At the same time.” 

 

Eddy spews rice onto his plate as Sancheong misses his mouth with his glass and pours water all over his lap, while Simba shrugs sheepishly at E.co, who’s been rendered speechless for the first time anyone in the room can remember.

 

There goes any image Eddy had of the new members being sweet.  Suddenly the whole Yul being strangely comfortable around their leader thing and the ass-touching thing make a lot more sense.

 

Simba looks at Zica, giving him a little grin.  “Well, it’s more that _you_ slept with the both of us at the same time.”

 

“Did you really have to…?”  Yul moans, burying his face in his hands.

 

Prince Mak pats at Eddy’s back as he looks between the members’ faces, trying to understand, and Zica seems entirely unbothered by the shocked silence at the table.

 

“The rest of them deserve to know.”  He says plainly, putting a huge slice of something slathered in hot pepper sauce in his mouth.

 

“I _knew_ it.”  E.co snaps his long fingers, pointing at Zica.  “I knew it from the second I saw you!  You’re into some pretty freaky shit, aren’t you?”

 

Zica chews his food slowly, before tilting his head, blinking at the eldest member.  “Would you like to find out?”

 

E.co raises a perfect eyebrow, glossy lips curving into a wicked grin as Zica holds his stare.  “I’d love to.”

 

“Hey, none of that at breakfast!  Some of us are trying to eat here!”  Eddy croaks, still attempting to clear his lungs of the rice he inhaled.

 

“I’m confused.  What exactly happened?”  Prince Mak asks, wiping stray grains of rice off his plate.

 

“They _banged_.”  Sancheong drawls, in English, pointing between the newest members and Simba with his chopsticks.

 

“What?  Like, all three of them?”  Prince asks, somehow looking even more confused than before.  “I just… how?”

 

Sancheong understands _how_ , and kicks at their leader under the table while making a disturbing gesture with his hands.  “Yeah, Youngjin, how?  Like this?”

 

“No, actually, it was more like this…”  Simba makes a different and far more disturbing hand gesture, while Yul turns a violent shade of red and Zica nods calmly.

 

“Wow, okay, is that what…?”  Prince Mak clues in while Eddy gags and E.co laughs and claps his hands.  “Daehwan, are you okay?  Or, uh… is your ass okay?”

 

Eddy shakes his head, pushing his plate of food away.  “I’m not translating that for you.” 

 

“You!  I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”  E.co slams his hands down on the table, startling Simba (who had returned to stuffing his mouth with as much food as possible).  “I thought you told me everything!”

 

“I’m sorry, Joonyoung.”  Their leader shakes his head guiltily, although E.co is grinning at him with obvious amusement.  “But if I had told you, you might’ve spoiled my whole plan.”

 

“Your plan?”  Yul asks, desperately trying to change the subject, still hiding his flaming cheeks with his hands. 

 

“Yeah!  If I had told Joonyoung that I slept with you guys, then he would have talked to you guys about it, and then you’d have known that I sleep with him and Hadon too.  Then from that you’d have known that Joonyoung and Hadon are together, and you wouldn’t have been surprised when you walked in on them going at it in a common area.  Which was bound to happen, by the way, because they like to have sex in common areas.  And if you hadn’t caught them, then Eddy would have never blown up at them and finally admitted to Henry that he loved him, because he was never going to tell him otherwise!  And now Henry and Eddy are finally together and everyone’s happy!”  Everyone is speechless while Simba waves his arms about and explains himself like this is the most obvious course of events in the whole world.  “And that’s why I couldn’t tell you, sorry!”

 

“You expect us to believe that _you_ knew all of this was going to happen?”  E.co’s voice is dripping with disbelief as he stares at their usually idiotic leader.

 

Simba shrugs as he crams more food in his large mouth.  “Well, honestly, I didn’t know that Henry was going to run away.  I could’ve done without that part… but otherwise, yeah, I think it was all pretty clearly going to turn out this way.”

 

Zica nudges at Simba with a teasing smile.  “Guess you’re not as dumb as you look, huh?”

 

“It’s impossible for anybody to be _that_ dumb…”  Sancheong mumbles, and Simba throws food at their maknae in return.

 

“We’re sorry for acting surprised, by the way.”  Yul adds quietly, trying to get E.co’s attention.  “We just didn’t expect to find people… like us… anywhere…”

 

“We especially didn’t think that you’d _all_ be like us.”  Zica smiles almost gratefully, up until some food from the miniature food fight between Sancheong and Simba ends up in his hair, and he returns the favour by flicking some rice at their leader.  Of course, some of this somehow gets down Eddy’s shirt, and he has to start yelling at the younger members about not acting like children.  His authority is totally ruined when Prince Mak decides to take part, throwing some of his own food at his new boyfriend’s face, and Eddy just sighs before joining in.

 

“Yeah, well, we’re all obviously pretty weird here.”  E.co laughs as he looks over the mess the rest of the group is currently engaged in making.  “But, I think we’re all okay with that.”

 

Yul nods, until he looks over at their leader, currently trying to catch Zica in a headlock while fending off Prince trying to dump water on his head.  “What about you, Youngjin?  Are you okay, being alone?”

 

Simba hugs Zica close to himself as Prince settles for splashing Eddy with the water instead.  “I’m the leader!  It’s my job to make sure the rest of you are happy.  If you guys are happy with each other, then I’m happy.  And if you guys let me join in sometimes, I’m definitely happy.”

 

“I think you’ve always got someone to join in with here-” E.co’s sly grin is wiped off his face as Eddy tackles Prince Mak into him, trying to repay him for his sopping wet hair by dumping his own drink on him, and the oldest member shrieks as water is spilt all over his carefully chosen outfit.

 

Simba claps his hands excitedly as he gets to his feet, stepping over the tangle of older members on the floor on his way to the living room.  He digs behind the framed Jackie Chan portrait (now held together by tape), pulling out their rulebook and waving it around above his head.  “I think this is a good time for us to make some new rules!  Or change some old ones.”

 

“Yes!”  E.co exclaims, giving Eddy a swift kick before sitting up and rearranging his hair.  “Can we finally change the no sex in common areas rule?  I’m sure they,” he gives a Zica and Yul a nod, “wouldn’t mind.”

 

“Hold up.  I mind!”  Eddy pushes wet hair out of his eyes as he glares at the oldest member.  “I really don’t want to see whatever “freaky shit” it is that Daehwan is into.”

 

“Well, we don’t mind, do we, Chanyul?”  Zica asks, smiling sweetly at his boyfriend, but his voice dips alarmingly low, and Yul gulps and shakes his head.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding…” 

 

“Let’s put it to a vote!”  Simba announces.  “All for?”

 

Eddy quickly translates for Prince Mak, and lets out a quiet “oh my god” when Prince slowly raises his hand.  And so does everyone else.

 

“Six to one!  Sorry, Eddy.”  Simba scratches the old rule out with gusto as E.co’s hand wanders perilously low beneath the table in his direction.

 

“Fine, whatever, but I still refuse to let anyone have sex in the kitchen!  That’s unhygienic!  We’re not changing that rule!”

 

“That was a rule?”  Zica asks, small eyes widening.

 

“Yup.  Right here.”  Simba holds out the notebook for Yul and Zica to see, and the two newest members shrug at each other as they read.

 

“So… uhm, we’re sorry.  We didn’t know.”  Yul says softly, and Eddy nearly gags again.

 

“I changed my mind again, I hate all of you.”

 

“You don’t hate him, do you?”  E.co laughs, gesturing at Prince Mak, who’s absentmindedly humming the Pokemon theme song to himself as he attempts to pay attention to Simba and Zica’s conversation about how “the whole no relationships rule doesn’t really matter if all the relationships are happening within the group because we’re all breaking so many rules anyways, but I’m the leader and I said we could and it’s totally better this way”.

 

Eddy shakes his head, smiling embarrassingly sappily as he looks at the gorgeous idiot beside him.  “He’s the worst of you all.”

 

“But he looks happy, for once.  And so do you.” 

 

Prince Mak catches Eddy looking at him, and he smiles back and links his fingers with Eddy’s underneath the table before shoving some more food in his mouth, all while still humming to himself. 

 

Prince’s hand is sticky from the all the food throwing, but Eddy doesn’t even think about pulling away.  “You know, I think we might actually be.”

 

And it turns out, that might actually be true.

 

Things really don’t change all that much.  They do everything they did before, and then some. 

 

The then some is mostly cuddling.  It turns out that Prince Mak loves to cuddle.  Eddy really should have seen it coming, what with the incessant grabby hands and all, but it still surprises him every morning that he wakes up with lean arms wrapped tight around him.

 

Even when they start their comeback, when their free time consists of the minutes they get in the van between driving to schedules, when every minute that isn’t spent on stage is spent in gruelling and seemingly unending dance practices, when they can almost count the amount of sleep they get in a week on their fingers, Eddy still feels nothing but happy at the end of a very long day when he the last thing he sees before finally closing his eyes is Prince grinning at him.

 

Of course, Prince Mak is still always sick, as usual.  All it takes is for Eddy to get disgustingly sick once, and Simba declares that Prince Mak needs to be quarantined in the single room.  This ends up working out just fine, Eddy now has two rooms to spread his stuff between, he ends up in Prince Mak’s bed literally every second he isn’t sick, and Simba seems to favour the beds of the other members much more than his own, so he’s never in the room.

 

And the other big change would be the sex.  Which is amazing.  Not that it wasn’t before, but with the kissing and everything, it’s better than Eddy ever thought sex could even be.  And it gets a lot less vanilla.  One day Mak does something with his tongue somewhere Eddy would have killed him for previously, but _holy shit_ , it might be the most weirdly hot thing that’s ever happened to him.  As time goes on and Prince Mak gets progressively weirder (but also somehow a hell of a lot hotter) in bed, Eddy kind of gets the feeling that he might be getting lessons from E.co or Zica, or both, but honestly, he couldn’t care less.  And he’s only too happy to reciprocate, to the point where E.co stops making fun of them whenever he “accidentally” walks in on them (which happens about as often as you’d think [really often]).

 

Other than that, it’s really all the same.  They still argue about everything and anything, Prince Mak still flirts terribly with the girls that do their makeup to “keep up appearances” (although he always makes it up later in a way that fully proves he wants nobody but Eddy), they still buy dumb shoes together and eat fried chicken and insult each other at dance practice and fight about whose turn it is to wash the bedding or give their cats a bath.

 

Even though Prince Mak always looks exhausted, even though the bags under his eyes are darker than Eddy’s ever seen them, even if his hair dye drips all over their sheets, even if he’s sick every other week, Eddy finds Prince looking at him sometimes, eyes sparkly even though they’re bloodshot and pretty lips curved into tired smiles, and he actually looks happy. 

 

And as time passes, as their _Where You At_ promotions come and go, as they film their own music video, as they promote _Insomnia_ as much as they’re allowed, as they perform at more and more venues, as their incredibly short holidays pass, as they both lose their colorful hair for soft blacks and browns, Eddy catches Prince Mak looking at him more and more.

 

Like he is right now, as they sit together on the new couch, their legs lazily intertwined, one of Prince’s thumbs stroking idly at Eddy’s thighs as he forgoes watching whatever movie they have on for staring at Eddy’s face with a little strange smile playing on his lips.

 

The other members are there too, Simba and Sancheong sitting on the old couch, Sancheong trying to read out of a textbook while E.co’s splayed over the both of them.  Zica and Yul are in the kitchen behind them, taking their scheduled turn to do the dishes, and they’ve been far more entertaining than the movie, in Eddy’s opinion.

 

They really are just doing the dishes, but Yul also splashes water at Zica and Zica blows mounds of bubbles at Yul’s face, and Zica tickles at Yul’s sides every time Yul leans in to quickly peck at his boyfriend’s round cheeks. 

 

“They are _so_ cute.”  E.co hasn’t even made an attempt to appear like he’s interested in the movie, sharp eyes watching every move the new members make, nuzzling his face against Sancheong’s thigh as he speaks.

 

And they are.  When they finish drying the last dish, Zica slings the towel he’s holding around Yul’s waist and pulls him close, stealing quick kisses as Yul half-heartedly attempts to swat him away, giggling and grinning and flushing (he’s quite aware that they have an audience).

 

“Yullie…”  Zica teases, fingers flitting around the hem of Yul’s loose shirt, rubbing his short nose against Yul’s sharp one. 

 

“Daehwan, come on…”  Yul’s voice is so quiet as he splays his fingers against his boyfriend’s chest, but it doesn’t look like he’s pushing him back at all.

 

“Not in the kitchen!”  Eddy calls out, although the new members are so wrapped up in each other that they don’t seem to hear him at all.

 

“Chanyul…”  Zica kisses the tip of Yul’s nose as he sneaks fingertips under his shirt.  “Chanyul.”

 

Yul shakes his head softly, although he can’t hide his big toothy smile.  “I’m so tired…”  
 

“ ** _Chanyul_**.”

 

There it is again, that voice, deep and powerful and commanding, loud enough to startle Sancheong into dropping his textbook (on E.co’s face, unfortunately) and for Prince Mak to tear his eyes away from Eddy to look at the pair in the kitchen in surprise.  It makes Yul stop entirely, standing stiff and straight as he looks into his boyfriend’s eyes for a painfully tense moment before nodding and slowly accepting an extended hand.

 

Zica turns to the other members as he leads Yul in the direction of the hallway.  “We’re going to go…”

 

Yul looks at him again, and they share another moment of silent eye contact before his thin lips form a tiny, shy smile as he points at Simba.  “…but you’re welcome to join us.”

 

Simba nods, grinning from ear to ear as Zica’s eyes narrow and his mouth curves into a serpentine smile as he tugs Yul off down the hallway.

 

“That’s nice of them.”  E.co states mildly, reaching up from where his upper body is sprawled over Sancheong’s lap to stroke at his boyfriend’s face. 

 

“Nice?!”  Eddy gapes.  “That was… horrifying!  What exactly _is_ Daehwan?!”

 

E.co tilts his head, considering, before sitting up and prodding at Simba (still trapped under E.co’s long legs, otherwise he’d probably be taking the newest members up on their kind offer).  “Power bottom, right?”

 

“Exactly.”  Simba nods, leaning in close to the eldest member. 

 

“Oh my god, too much information…”  Eddy groans as Prince Mak settles in beside him again, toying leisurely with Eddy’s newly darkened hair.

 

E.co pushes Simba away when he ducks his head for a kiss, laughing as their leader nearly falls backwards off the couch.  “What are you doing?  It would be rude to not take Daehwan and Chanyul up on their kind offer, wouldn’t it?”

 

Simba stands up shakily, pants noticeably tighter than they were a second ago.  “I guess you’re right… Well, I’ll see the rest of you later, it looks like I’ve got better things to do.”

 

“Come visit us after, if you’ve still got some energy.”  E.co winks at their leader, sending him off with a nasty smirk and a wave, Simba nodding as he heads in the direction of the newest members and some sex so terrifying that Eddy can’t really even begin to imagine it.

 

E.co lounges back in Sancheong’s lap again, capturing his hands before he can pick up his textbook, pulling the youngest member’s lips down towards him.

 

Eddy sighs and opts to ignore what’s happening on the other couch, making eye-contact with the pretty idiot beside him, whose eyes are once again resolutely fixed on Eddy’s face.

 

“What?”  Eddy asks, smiling a little self-consciously, especially when Prince Mak links a hand with his and rubs at the skin of the back of his hand with the pad of his thumb.  “You’ve been staring at me all night.”  
 

Prince smiles softly, squeezing at Eddy’s hands.  “Mate, you look like shit.”

 

And there goes anything nice about the moment.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You look awful.  Your eyes are so bloodshot, I can see your stubble growing in, and your face looks, like… swollen?”  Mak pokes at his boyfriend’s cheeks, and Eddy smacks his hand away.

 

“You think you look any better?”  Eddy scowls, trying to grab at Prince’s wrists.  “The bags under your eyes are so dark that it looks like you’ve been in a fight.”

 

Prince Mak laughs as Eddy pins him back against the couch.  “That’s because I’m exhausted.”  
 

“You sound pretty happy for someone who’s so exhausted…”  Eddy tickles at Prince Mak’s sides, dodging his kicks and flailing arms, rolling his eyes and Prince giggles and wheezes.

 

“I am!”  Prince gasps out as he catches the collar of Eddy’s shirt and tugs his face close.  “Happy, I mean.” 

 

“What?”  Eddy shudders slightly as he feels Prince’s warm breath against his skin, and Prince Mak shrugs as he pokes Eddy in the nose.

 

“I dunno, it’s just… not so bad here.  Sometimes.  _When I’m with you_.”  He says plainly, the last part of his speech in actually understandable Korean.

 

Eddy’s at a loss for words, he definitely didn’t teach Prince Mak how to say that.  Mak looks way too pleased with himself at Eddy’s speechlessness, eyes curving into crescents and giving Eddy a big annoying toothy grin.

 

The thing that makes Eddy snap out of his daze is a wet slurping noise from the other couch, and he really doesn’t want to turn around to find out what the oldest and youngest members are doing that would make such a sound.

 

Eddy clears his throat, attempting to direct Prince’s wandering eyes (he’s way too interested in what’s going on behind Eddy) back to him.  “Do you want to go sleep?”   

 

“Do you mean sleep-sleep or sex-sleep?”  Mak asks seriously (somehow).

 

Eddy notices how much bigger Prince’s eyes have gotten and how tight his pants look, and even though he really does look like shit because he’s just as exhausted as his boyfriend, there’s nothing that gives him energy like the now familiar dark stare Prince gives him.

 

“Uh… either?  Or both?  Whatever you want, really…”

 

Prince Mak gives a good amount of consideration to both of their options before replying.  “Both sounds good.”

 

There’s another soggy popping sound from behind Eddy’s back followed by a literal purr from E.co, and Eddy grabs Prince’s forearms hard and yanks him in the direction of his room.  Prince looks much more awake at Eddy’s enthusiasm (he really just wants to be out of the living room before Sancheong and E.co do anything too weird), eagerly wrapping arms tight around Eddy’s waist and kissing him hard the second the door is closed behind them.

 

Eddy lets Prince tug him down with him onto the mattress (after they shoo away a few kittens that were sleeping on his comforter), falling on top of him and laughing as Prince smacks him for accidentally elbowing him in the ribs before he curls his fingers into Eddy’s hair and kisses him happily and hotly and with the practiced ease that only comes from having done this a thousand times before.  Things are just getting good (Eddy gets a leg up between Prince’s thighs and Prince can barely contain the little needy moans he makes when Eddy drags his lips along his neck) when they hear something that sounds disturbingly like Simba whining and… pleading(?) at a volume that Eddy’s almost certain is going to cause their neighbours to file noise complaints. 

 

Unfortunately, Prince Mak’s room shares a wall with Eddy and Simba’s room, and right now the wall separating them from their leader and his two lovers is much too thin for Eddy’s tastes.

 

“Man, I hope they’re not doing whatever _that_ is on my bed…”  Eddy reluctantly disentangles himself from the hot mess that is Henry Prince Mak and rolls off the bed.

 

Prince Mak props himself up on his elbows, concerned.  “Where are you going?”

 

Eddy just shakes his head as Simba gasps louder than Eddy had thought was physically possible from the next room over, and Prince gets the answer to his question soon enough when Eddy finds his phone and hooks it up to the little speaker sitting beside the bed.

 

“Seriously, girl group music?”  Prince groans as Eddy cranks the volume to the point where it drowns out at least some of their leader’s moans.

 

Eddy lets out a short laugh as he crawls back on to the bed and right between Mak’s spread thighs.  “Come on, it’s better than listening to whatever’s happening to Youngjin…”

 

“Yeah, but isn’t there anything better to listen to than girl groups while we’re having sex?”  Mak complains while tugging on the hem of Eddy’s shirt.

 

Eddy shakes his head, working with tired (but excited) fingers on the zipper of Prince’s jeans.  “Shut up, you love it.”

 

“I really don’t…”  Mak starts, helping Eddy work his jeans down his thighs.  “…but I do love you.”

 

Eddy freezes.  “You what?”

 

Mak blinks at him, confused as to why Eddy’s stopped trying to pull off his pants. 

 

“I love you?”  He offers up again, tugging at Eddy’s wrists, trying to spur him back into action, but Eddy’s breath just catches in his throat and his blood pounds in his ears and his palms are sweaty and his stomach is all queasy, and he has to ask one more time, just to be sure.

 

“Are you sure?  Like, really sure?”

 

Prince takes one good long look at Eddy, blinking those dark and beautiful and tired eyes and biting at his pretty bottom lip, looking gorgeous and hot and absurd with his flushed cheeks and sweat starting to shine on his neck and his jeans still stuck halfway down his sinewy thighs, before smiling and reaching up to push some dark hair off of Eddy’s forehead.  “Really, really sure.”

 

Now Eddy understands why Prince Mak has been staring at him so strangely lately, why he’s always there in the morning when Eddy wakes up, why he insists on holding him close and pressing burning kisses to his face every night before they sleep. 

 

Because Prince Mak is smiling at him just like E.co smiles at Sancheong and like Zica smiles at Yul, and it takes a second for Eddy to be able to breathe again, but when he does he smiles right back at Prince just like Sancheong smiles at E.co and like Yul smiles at Zica.

 

And as Eddy’s pulled into a kiss that makes him melt from head to toe by the person that loves him, a weird Australian idiot with big dreams and an infuriatingly gorgeous smile, his previous roommate (and practically still his current one), his best friend, his lover, and the most annoying person he knows, Eddy realizes that he doesn’t regret falling in love with him one little bit.

 

Because Prince Mak beams at him through every scorching kiss they share, and he’s grinning like Eddy truly does make him happy, like (in spite of everything) he thinks Eddy’s special and wonderful and so important to him, like he really, really, really does love him.  And Eddy knows that the smile he returns says all of that and more.

 

And he knows that they’re going to be okay because of it.  Even if there are sure to be lots of tough times ahead, even if they don’t get super famous, even if they never make a ton of money, even if they never do get any free time, Eddy knows that they’ll make it through.  Because they love each other, and that’s what people who love each other do.

 

He might feel a little bit guilty about how they’re breaking so many rules just by being together. 

 

They still have a ridiculous amount of rules now, some of the newer ones including how you absolutely must knock on any room door that Zica and Yul have closed behind them unless you want to discover some new and terrifying uses for human orifices, how you’ve got to write your name on your underwear now because “all of the goddamn underwear in this house looks the same and Youngjin, if I catch you wearing my underwear one more time I swear to god I will punch you right in the fucking nose”, and, for the love of god, do not have sex in the kitchen unless you want to really see how good Eddy is with a knife.

 

But Simba’s already expressed many a time how he’s okay with everyone breaking the rules if it means they stay together.

 

Because that’s the reason they have rules.  So they all stick together.  And after everything, every dumb argument and every dumb blow up and every dumb fight, they are all still together.

 

And as Eddy kisses Prince Mak back, happier than he’s ever been, smiling and laughing and heart pounding wildly in his chest, he thinks it’s definitely worth breaking a few rules when he’s so totally in love (and so totally loved back).

 

FIN


End file.
